The European Commission will propose to ban travel from a number of countries in southern Africa after the emergency of the 'Nu' variant.
Concerns were first raised about B.1.1.529 by officials in South Africa on Tuesday. The strain, which has up to 30 mutations, has since spread to a number of countries in the region.
There are growing fears that the variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain, which caused the wave currently crippling Europe. Experts are also concerned that it could contain high levels of resistance from vaccines.
The UK has already introduced a travel ban on a number of nations and it looks like the EU could soon follow.
No cases of the strain have been confirmed in the EU to date, with World Health Organisation officials meeting later to "discuss its significance."
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted on Friday morning: "The EU Commission will propose, in close coordination with Member States, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529."
According to Sky News, the new strain "could potentially evade" some levels of immunity provided by vaccines.
Reporter Ivor Bennett explained: “The first thing to say is that there is a high level of concern indeed within the British government around this new variant because it is considered, by officials here, to be the worst seen so far.
“The main difference is the number of mutations, so this new variant has around 30 different mutations and that is twice as many as what the Delta variant had.
“The fear is mutations will help the virus potentially evade immunity that’s been built up by the vaccine and make it more transmissible.”
In a statement on Thursday night, a Department of Health spokesman said that Minister Stephen Donnelly is "deeply concerned" about the strain.
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