Experts have identified a new variant of coronavirus which may be responsible for the “faster spread” in South East England, England's Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
Mr Hancock revealed the news while delivering a speech in the House of Commons on Monday, December 14.
He said it is growing faster than the existing variant, with more than a thousand cases, and that the World Health Organization has been notified.
In a statement, Mr Hancock said: “Over the last few days, thanks to our world-class genomic capability in the UK, we have identified a new variant of coronavirus which may be associated with the faster spread in the South of England.”
Despite this, Mr Hancock added that it was "unlikely" to cause more serious disease than other variants.
The Health Secretary said it was "highly unlikely" that this new strain would fail to respond to a vaccine.
Speaking to the Commons, he said: "I must stress at this point that there is currently nothing to suggest that this variant is more likely to cause serious disease and the latest clinical advice is that it’s highly unlikely that this mutation would fail to respond to a vaccine, but it shows we’ve got to be vigilant and follow the rules and everyone needs to take personal responsibility not to spread this virus.”
Mr Hancock confirmed that over 1,000 cases of this variant have currently been identified, predominantly in the south of England, although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas" and numbers have been increasing rapidly."
The news comes as more than 10 million people were due to be plunged into tighter coronavirus restrictions.
In the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, the Health Secretary confirmed that London, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will be put into Tier 3 lockdowns from 12.01am on Wednesday as rates spiral.
Mr Hancock said there had been "very sharp exponential rises" of the virus across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.
"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out," he added.
Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee and himself a former Health Secretary, questioned Mr Hancock about his comments that the new variant of the virus would be "unlikely" not to respond to a vaccine.
The Health Secretary responded to his predecessor by stating that the new variant is currently being assessed at the UK military's research base, Porton Down, but that the current medical advice he has is that it is unlikely that the new variant will "impinge" the new coronavirus vaccine.
"We will know that in the coming days and weeks as the new strand is cultured at Porton Down," said Mr Hancock.
