Scientists believe 90 per cent of coronavirus cases in the UK can be traced back to holiday hotspots Spain, France, Belgium and Italy, igniting fresh questions over the Government's failure to lockdown airports.
A new study, led by infectious disease expert Professor Oliver Pybus and published on Virological.org, analysed genomes of virus samples from 16,500 infected Brits.
These were then compared to almost 12,000 SARS-CoV-2 samples from around the globe, with 34 per cent said to have originated in similar strains from Spain.
Another 29 per cent came from France, 15 per cent from Belgium, and 14 per cent Italy, while just 0.08 per cent of the UK's cases came directly from China where the pandemic started, according to the study.