Sourcing
editGoogle reveals 3.3 million results of "UK strain" +coronavirus
as of 11 January 2021 (archive url). Some sources from media and health officials, including the British ones, used it as a name, some used it colloquially. It is one of the top four terms in common (colloquial) usage, including U.K. Covid-19 variant, U.K. Coronavirus variant, U.K. variant and U.K. strain (click the above links for a list of source). The consensus on Request for Comment for UK- usage on the talk page of VOC 202012/01 is to include these terms prominently in the article's lede.
- "Governor Cuomo Announces Three Additional Cases of UK Strain Identified in New York (official press release)". New York Governor's Press Office. 2021-01-09.
- "Covid: Good news for success of vaccine against new UK strain - but what about South Africa?". itv news. 2021-01-08.
- "Implications of the Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variant VUI 202012/01". US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2020-12-22.
The South African variant also has the N501Y mutation and several other mutations but emerged completely independently of the UK strain and is not related to it.