South African variant: 'Cases do not appear linked'

Dr Susan Hopkins, of Public Health England, has said cases of the South African variant "do not appear linked at the moment".

However, she adds that it has slightly more mutations in the spike protein which is perhaps causing vaccines to have "diminished effectiveness" although they still work very well.

Around 80,000 people in England will be offered urgent tests for the South Africa coronavirus variant after cases with no links to travel were found.