Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, he says the new variant has come as a "surprise" as there hasn't been a mutation for many months now, but accepts there's "always a risk" of that happening and ...

Shapps says the decision was made within an hour or two of a meeting between the UK's chief medical officers yesterday afternoon, who agreed it was the “most significant variant they had encountered” ...

The BBC's James Gallagher says the honest answer is we don't yet know what implications this new variant will have for Covid vaccines, including boosters. He explains that lots of tests will be ...

"We hope that we are wrong on this," he tells the BBC's Newsday programme, adding that teams are trying to establish how transmissible the new variant is. He says, however, that he expects existing ...