A NEW strain of Covid is "increasing rapidly”.

Matt Hancock said the numbers of the new variant of coronavirus “are increasing rapidly”.

The Health Secretary 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.”

He told the Commons: “Initial analysis suggests that this variant is growing faster than the existing variants.

“We’ve currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the South of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas.

“And numbers are increasing rapidly.”

Mr Hancock is updating MPs on the latest developments in the fight against Covid-19.

He added: “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.”

“I need to tell the House that over the last week, we’ve seen very sharp, exponential rises in 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.”

It comes as London and parts of the South-East are expected to go into Tier 3, while the fate of the North-East will be revealed later this week. 

Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees councils are one of 67 in England to roll out quick result community testing programmes for asymptomatic people, which began today, December 14. 

The testing centres will be set up in community centres and hubs in and around the town centres, so that people, who may not necessarily be showing Covid-19 symptoms but may have been in contact with someone who has Covid can be tested.