ANKARA, January 2. /TASS/. At least 15 cases of the new coronavirus variant that was earlier detected in the United Kingdom have been detected in Turkey, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

"We carried out research to identify that 15 people who entered our country from the UK have the mutated strain of coronavirus. We temporarily suspend entries to Turkey from the UK," he wrote on Twitter.

On December 14, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock reported that scientiests had identified a new strain of coronavirus. According to him, faster spread of COVID-19 in southeast England can be explained by the emergence of this new variant. On December 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that preliminary data suggests that the mutation can be 70% more infectious, however, there is no evidence to claim that its lethality is higher as well. Alarmed by the news, some countries suspended air travel with the UK.