LONDON, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Public Health England (PHE) said on Thursday that it has designated a new COVID-19 variant identified in Britain as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI).

Two cases of the variant, called VUI-202103/01, have so far been found in the South East of England in individuals who had recently travelled to Antigua, according to the PHE.

The variant contains the spike mutations E484K and N501Y, both of which are usually associated with some previously identified variants that have been designated as Variants of Concern (VOC), the PHE said.

Contact tracing teams have completed thorough investigations to identify and follow up any close contacts and no additional cases have been found to date, according to the PHE.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.