Test results have been released after a widespread search to track down Bristol's coronavirus 'variant of concern'.
The government rolled out a 'surge testing' programme in February following the discovery of a mutated strain of the virus, which research suggests could be less susceptible to the vaccine.
More than 40,000 people in 24 targeted Bristol and South Gloucestershire postcodes took up the offer of asymptomatic testing, and just one per cent of those came back of positive.
One fifth of the positive swabs were then sent off for 'genome sequencing' in a laboratory, where scientists analysed the samples to see if they matched the makeup of the variant of concern, which is officially known as VOC-202102/02.
Bristol City Council has now confirmed that just six further cases of the variant were identified through the sequencing, suggesting it is not widespread.
The authority's latest coronavirus update from Monday (April 12) advised: "The Department for Health and Social Care have shared that just over 20 per cent of the positive tests found through community surge testing in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, have undergone further analysis.
"Six cases the variant of concern VOC202102/02 has been found.
"The total number of cases identified with this strain in the UK is 43."
It is not clear how many of those 43 cases were in the Bristol area.
The government's Nervtag advisory group regularly updates its count of all the 'variants of concern' present in the UK, but it only breaks down the locations by nations rather than local authorities.
Health secretary Matt Hancock first announced news of the variant on February 2, advising the House of Commons that a cluster of 11 "concerning" cases of the variant had been identified in the Bristol area.
That figure has been slowly creeping up since then, but appears to have now stalled and there have been no new cases recorded by Nervtag for at least a week.
The 'Bristol' variant is the widespread B.1.1.7 strain first detected in Kent, which is understood to transmit more easily, with an additional mutation known as E484K.
The South African variant and Manaus Brazil variant known as P1 are the other variants of concern that Nervtag is tracking in the UK, along with several other 'variants under investigation'.
More than 530 cases of the former have been found so far, and 35 of the latter - including three in South Gloucestershire.
A second programme of surge testing ran last month in the Bradley Stoke and Patchway area, to identify any additional cases of the P1 variant.
The results have not yet been released but health officials offered reassurance at the time that the infected people "did absolutely everything they can to minimise the risk to others".
Variants of the virus have been a catalyst for third waves of the pandemic currently being experienced by several other countries, including in France where the 'Kent' variant has rapidly spread.
