A new coronavirus variant has been detected in the UK, it has been confirmed.
A total of 16 cases of the strain – known as B.1.621 - have been discovered so far and experts at Public Health England are urgently carrying out an analysis.
Most of the cases have been linked to overseas travel and there is currently no evidence of community transmission in the UK, PHE said.
They also added that there is no evidence to suggest the strain makes the vaccines any less effective.
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Public Health England said in a statement: "Sixteen confirmed cases of B.1.621 have been identified across the country to date, and the majority have been linked to overseas travel.
"There is currently no evidence of community transmission in the UK.
"There is currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines currently deployed any less effective.
"PHE is carrying out laboratory testing to better understand the impact of mutations on the behaviour of the virus."
PHE also published data today showing that cases of the Delta variant have risen by 33,716 since last week to a total of 286,765.
The new figures suggest that the Delta variant may be 46% more likely to cause reinfection than the Alpha variant first identified in Kent.
PHE data shows that, while the overall chances of getting reinfected are very low, the Delta variant, first identified in India and which accounts for around 99% of cases in the UK, poses a higher risk.
It came as new figures showed the breakdown of how many people in hospital with the Delta variant have had one or both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
From June 21 to July 19, some 1,788 people were admitted to hospital after testing positive for Delta.
Of these, 970 (54%) were unvaccinated, while 530 (30%) had received both doses.
In total, 3,692 people have so far been admitted to hospital with the Delta variant, of whom 2,152 (58%) were unvaccinated and 843 (23%) were fully vaccinated.
From February to mid-July, among the under-50s who had received both vaccines just four patients died with the Delta variant out of 15,346 cases in this group (0.02%).
There have been 34 deaths among the unvaccinated in the same age group, among 119,063 Delta cases (0.02%).
Meanwhile, among the over-50s who have received both vaccinations there have been 220 deaths out of 13,427 cases (1.64%).
And there have been 131 deaths among the unvaccinated over-50s among 2,337 cases (5.6%).
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