Dr Hilary Jones has warned that 'possibly two' new variants of Covid-19 have been detected in Brazil.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain hosts Ben Sheppard and Susanna Reid, Dr Hilary explained it was 'possible' as many as two new strains have been detected by the Japanese after tourists returned from Brazil.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK is 'taking steps' to ensure the variant from Brazil doesn't reach the UK, following calls for the government to stop flights between the two countries.
Dr Hilary revealed that genomic sequencing, which detected the Mink strain in Denmark as well as the Kent and South African variants, have helped to find 'possibly two' variants in Brazil:
"They've detected possibly two slightly different variants in Brazil, these were picked up in Japan from people returning from trips to Brazil.
"Countries which have genomic sequencing, we're very good at it, they're good at it in Denmark, they're very good at it in South Africa, they have picked up this variant."
He then went on to warn that there are "hundreds" of mutations already:
"There are hundreds of variants already that we know about.
"So we will be seeing new variants mutations of the virus as we do with the flu virus."
Dr Hilary moved on to reveal little is actually known at the moment about how bad the Brazil variant could be:
"We're not sure the Brazillian one behaves in a different way, whether it's more transmissible, whether it's more virulent we'll be keeping tabs on that."
Dr Hilary later echoed similar calls for the government to act quickly to close down borders between Brazil and the UK:
"Hopefully, measures are already in place to prevent people from flying back from Brazil right now and bringing it back with them."
Good Morning Britain returns at 6am every weekday morning on ITV.
