COVID-19 cases surpassed 18 million on Tuesday as health officials tried to tamp down fears about a new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.Reports of the new virus variant in England, which prompted a pre-Christmas lockdown and caused dozens of countries to close their borders to British travelers this week, have spurred talks among U.S.
state officials of mandatory COVID-19 testing for travelers from the UK and a possible quarantine mandate.Also Read | How hunger came back to haunt IndiaNews of the mutated variant comes as the United States faces a surge in new infections that is overwhelming some hospitals.