‘Most worrying’ African variant could already be in the UK, expert says

Riswan Mahmood receives his Covid-19 vaccination at the Penny Street vaccination centre in Blackburn. Experts in the UK are quickly trying to work out how quickly a new South African variant may spread and whether it is more deadly.

It is possible that a new worrying variant of coronavirus is already in the UK though current signs are reassuring, an expert at the Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser of the UKHSA, said scientists are very concerned about the new variant found in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel, though no cases have been detected in the UK.