Photo: News24

The French government has recommended clubs postpone European Cup matches with British teams due to the new COVID-19 variant.

Iran Press/Europe: The decision puts a doubt over next weekend's scheduled third round of games and a meeting to discuss this year's Six Nations, set to start on 6 February, will take place next week, AFP reported on Saturday.

One in 50 people in private households in England had COVID last week - and one in 30 in London, according to estimates based on the latest data.

More than 76,000 people have died from the bug in the UK since the start of the pandemic.

It comes as England and Scotland announced new strict lockdowns, with people told to stay at home.

The UK and Italy are the two countries with the highest death toll from coronavirus infection in Europe.

The British Health Secretary Matt Hancock recently announced the discovery of a new variant of coronavirus that mutates and spreads faster which greatly raised concerns leading to new restrictions. 

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