Mutant coronavirus has now been detected at 57 different locations around Britain. Scientists who sequenced its genome detected samples taken at 45 places in England, six in Scotland and six in Wales.
The Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) monitoring group had identified the significance of VUI-202012/01 which is thought to have originated in the South East.
They have now revealed full extent of its spread with cases in Liverpool, Leicester, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. Locations near the cities of Leeds, Oxford, Coventry and Cambridge also produced samples.
The Scottish cases were mainly clustered around Glasgow while Wales had cases in Swansea, Newport and near Cardiff. These cases could only be a snapshot of the real picture