THE Indian variant of coronavirus has been detected in Shropshire, new figures suggest.
Public Health England data shows one positive case of the S-gene variant was identified in Shropshire by May 25, from samples taken in the week to May 21.
The health body had not identified any cases before that point.
The vast majority of areas in England have reported at least one case.
The data shows 11,403 S-gene positive cases were recorded in England between the start of March and May 25.
Of these, 802 (seven per cent) were in the West Midlands – the fifth largest proportion of England’s nine regions, but well behind the North West, where there were around 5,700 cases.
Recent PHE analysis found that the proportion of confirmed Indian variant specimens among S-gene positives nationally is 97 per cent.
Figures show 6,959 cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus had been confirmed across the UK by May 26 – a rise of 3,535 on the previous week.
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