A worrying new coronavirus variant has been identified in 10 countries including in the UK, scientists have said.
The Covid variant contains potentially worrying mutations and scientists are experts saying it should be targeted in surge testing.
To date, it has been identified in 10 countries including Denmark, the US and Australia, with 32 cases found in the UK so far.
The variant has similarities in its genome to the Kent variant known as B117, and it contains a number of mutations that have worried researchers
This includes the E484K which is in dangerous variants that emerged in South African and Brazil and is thought make the virus better able to escape antibodies produced by the body.
Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said: “We don’t yet know how well this [new] variant will spread, but if it is successful it can be presumed that immunity from any vaccine or previous infection will be blunted,”.