The new coronavirus variant discovered in Britain with a higher transmission rate is not yet out of control and can be contained using existing measures, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
"We have had a much higher (contamination rate) at different points in this pandemic and we've got it under control," WHO's emergencies chief Michael Ryan told a press conference.
"So, this situation is not in that sense out of control. But it cannot be left to its own devices."
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock had earlier claimed the new variant was "out of control", with British officials saying it was 70% more transmissible than the main strain.
"The measures we currently have in place are the correct measures," Ryan said.
"We need to do what we have been doing, we may just have to do it with a little more intensity and for a little longer to make sure we can bring this virus under control."
Roughly 30 countries shut their borders to people travelling from Britain or South Africa -- where another variant has emerged -- to stop any further spread.
"In some senses, it means we have to work harder," Ryan said. "Even if the virus has become a little bit more efficient in spreading, the virus can be stopped."
Europe scrambled Monday to thrash out a coordinated response to a new strain of the coronavirus which has prompted an international suspension of travel links with the UK, while the United States saw its own caseload top 18 million.
EU ambassadors were to meet Tuesday to try to nail down a unified approach and work out how to eventually lift the border restrictions with Britain -- including by imposing a requirement for tests on all arrivals.
More than two dozen countries from India to Argentina suspended flight from the UK, offering a bleak reminder that the pandemic is far from over.
While experts say there is no evidence the UK variant of the virus -- one of several mutations -- is more lethal or will affect the impact of vaccines, it may be up to 70 percent more transmissible, according to early data.
Concern over the mutated strain sent European stocks, oil prices and the British pound plunging and transport changes unleashed chaos for travellers and truckers ahead of Christmas.
Thousands of people are still dying daily from the virus that has claimed over 1.7 million lives since it first emerged in China late last year.
Multiple variants
The UK strain has also been detected in small numbers in Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands, according to the WHO.
Another variant with similar genetic mutations has been linked to widespread transmission in South Africa.
There is currently "no evidence to indicate any change in disease severity, but this is also under investigation," WHO said.
In the pandemic's first border closure among Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden barred travellers from neighbouring Denmark, in addition to the UK, because of the variant.
Elsewhere, Luxembourg decided to join European neighbours who are tightening virus lockdowns after Christmas.
Yet Hungary and Slovenia said they would relax some rules around the holiday to allow families to gather.
