More than 100 cases of a new ‘Thai variant’ of Covi-19 has been detected in the UK.

There have been 109 cases detected in the UK of the C.36.3 variant first detected in Thailand, in cases who had travelled from Egypt.

Public health England (PHE) reported on May 24 that the new variant is under consideration.

Scientists will carry out laboratory tests to determine whether it reaches the threshold of being a variant of concern.

At present there is no evidence to suggest the new strain is more severe or is ineffective against vaccines.

Scientists are keen to find out more about the new variant as international travel restrictions ease across the UK.

PHE would not disclose where in Britain new cases have been detected but said the test and trace system is being used to limit the spread of the new variant.

Meanwhile, confirmed cases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 have doubled in a week to reach almost 7,000, although hospital admissions remain broadly flat, data shows.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Downing Street press conference that up to three-quarters of new coronavirus cases were the Indian variant, though he stressed that the vaccines were having an effect on keeping people out of hospital.

He said: “The latest estimates are that more than half and potentially as many as three-quarters of all new cases are now of this variant.

“As we set out our road map we always expected cases to rise, we must remain vigilant.

“The aim, of course, is to break the link to hospitalisations and deaths so that cases alone no longer require stringent restrictions on people’s lives.”

New data from Public Health England (PHE) shows 6,959 cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK.

The figures are up to May 26, and represent a rise of 3,535 on the previous week.

In England, 6,180 cases have been confirmed, along with 702 in Scotland, 58 in Wales and 19 in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, Mr Hancock told MPs in the Commons it is too early to say whether the June 21 lifting of restrictions will go ahead.

It comes after Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental to the UK locking down in March 2020, said the Indian variant was now “the dominant strain” in the UK and the full reopening of society on June 21 “hangs in the balance”.