What we know about the South Africa-style Covid strain found in Bristol

Experts move to play down fears over new variant evading existing vaccines

A patient celebrates getting his Covid vaccine at Southmead Hospital in Bristol
A patient celebrates getting his Covid vaccine at Southmead Hospital in Bristol
(Image credit: Graeme Robertson/Pool/Getty Images)

A new strain of Covid-19 discovered in Bristol has been classed as a “variant of concern” by the government’s virus threat advisory group.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.