England's chief medical officer has confirmed that a new mutant Covid-19 strain spreads more rapidly - and urgent work is underway to see if it is more deadly.
Prof Chris Whitty said the UK has informed the World Health Organisation about the new variant. At the moment he said there is "no current evidence" to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or affects vaccines, but work is being carried out to confirm this.
His statement comes ahead of his appearance at a Downing Street briefing at 4pm alongside Boris Johnson and Sir Patrick Vallance, England's chief scientific officer.
Prof Whitty said: "As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England's genomic surveillance. "As