The World Health Organization in Europe said Tuesday it would convene its members to discuss how to handle the outbreak of a new variant of the novel coronavirus discovered in the UK.

Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe said in a post to Twitter that the organisation was closely monitoring the spread of the new variant and would in response "convene member states to discuss strategies for testing, reducing transmission & communicating risks."

Kluge added that "limiting travel to contain spread is prudent until we have better info."