The entire Ho Chi Minh City will be tested for COVID-19 after authorities detected a Covid variant that appears to be a combination of the Indian and UK strains.

The country is now hoping to tackle the new COVID-19 outbreak by testing the entire population of Ho Chi Minh City and introducing social distancing measures

The effort comes in response to a new cluster linked to a religious mission.

Over the weekend officials warned of a new “very dangerous” hybrid variant discovered in the country.

The latest spike accounts for the total amount of registered cases.

Epidemiologists say that viruses mutate all the time and most variants are inconsequential, but some can make a virus more contagious.

Since Covid-19 was first identified in January 2020, thousands of mutations have been detected, including the Brazil strain, UK and Indian strains of the virus.

Transmission concerns

Mr Nguyen told a government meeting, according to Reuters news agency.

Mr. Nguyen said the new hybrid variant was more transmissible than previously known versions, especially in the air. He said it was discovered after running tests on newly-detected patients, online newspaper VnExpress reported.

Nguyen added that the genetic code of the virus would be made available soon.