The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Beta (B.1.351) variant in November 2020 raised concerns of increased transmissibility and severity. We describe the epidemiology of 949 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant cases in England, identified between December 2020 and June 2022. Most cases were detected in the first 3 months. A total of 10 deaths (1.1%; 10/949) were identified among all cases and of those with travel information, 38 (4.9%; 38/781) cases with hospital admissions within 14 days of a positive test being detected. 52.9% (413/781) cases were imported. This study reinforces the importance of monitoring of travel-associated cases to inform public health response and reduce transmissibility of new variants.
Keywords: B.1.351; England; SARS-CoV-2 Beta; second generation surveillance system; travel; whole genome sequencing.
© 2023 Crown copyright. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article is published with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the King's Printer for Scotland.