Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suspended flights from the UK amid growing concern a new strain of the COVID virus that is spreading in areas of the region.

The new strain is wreaking havoc on the U.K., accounting for 60 per cent of new infections in London in December.

The U.K. recorded 35,928 further confirmed cases on Sunday, around double the number from a week earlier.

The Trudeau government did not respond to repeated questions from The Canadian Press on Sunday about whether Canada was considering a travel ban on the U.K.

The Prime Minister convened a meeting of the Incident Response Group on Sunday afternoon to discuss the new variant of COVID-19 identified in the United Kingdom. Minister of Health Patty Hajdu, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, Minister of Transport Marc Garneau, President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, and Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne were all in attendance.

Trudeau confirmed the news in a tweet Sunday evening and in a news release.

Additionally, passengers who arrived in Canada today from the United Kingdom are now subject to secondary screening and enhanced measures, including increased scrutiny of quarantine plans. Passengers who arrived recently from the United Kingdom will also receive additional direction from the Government of Canada.

While no cases linked to this new strain have been identified in Canada, work continues to identify if this variant is present or has been previously observed in Canada.