LONDON — The coronavirus variant first identified in India could trigger another wave in the United Kingdom, a British government advisory scientist warned on Thursday.

"The virus just got faster," Andrew Hayward, a professor from the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said indicating that Britain could be at the start of a third COVID-19 wave.

"That really brings it back down to this race against the vaccine and the virus," Hayward, an infectious disease expert at University College London, told the BBC.

"I think what we can see is that this strain can circulate very effectively, although it was originally imported through travel to India, it's spread fairly effectively first of all within households and now more broadly within communities, so I don't really see why it wouldn't continue to spread in other parts of the country," he said.

"Obviously we're doing everything we can to contain the spread of that, but it's likely that more generalized measures may start to be needed to control it," he added.

The warning comes as the UK government outlines new decisive actions to halt the spread of the “variant of concern”.

“Following extensive COVID-19 surveillance, which has rapidly detected cases of the B1.617.2 variant first identified in India, additional surge testing, tracing and isolation support measures are being deployed at pace across Bedford, Burnley, Hounslow, Kirklees, Leicester and North Tyneside,” the government said on Thursday in a press release.

Meanwhile, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We are determined to do all we can to ensure this new variant doesn’t put our recovery at risk.”

“So we’ve acted fast, to guard the gains that we’ve made together. We are putting in place more testing — more testing sites — and on vaccinations, we are making more vaccinations available to everyone who’s eligible.”

The UK health secretary added: “To everyone in these areas, please exercise caution, get a test, and as soon as you’re eligible, get the jab.”

According to the government data, cases of the Indian-related variant across the UK have risen to 2,967 cases. Most cases remain predominantly in the North West of England, with some in London. — Agencies