Is this strain worst than the original strain?
Mr Hancock made it clear there was nothing to suggest the new strain is more serious or deadly than the original strain of coronavirus.
Professor Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at Nottingham University, told the BBC: “The genetic information in many viruses can change very rapidly and sometimes these changes can benefit the virus – by allowing it to transmit more efficiently or to escape from vaccines or treatments – but many changes have no effect at all.
“Even though a new genetic variant of the virus has emerged and is spreading in many parts of the UK and across the world, this can happen purely by chance.
“Therefore, it is important that we study any genetic changes as they occur, to work out if they are affecting how the virus behaves, and until we have done that important work it is premature to make any claims about the potential impacts of virus mutation.”