Don't miss a thing by getting the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cancelled his trip to India next week amid concern over the country’s rising coronavirus cases and a new variant there, which is now also present in the UK.
But why are some scientists concerned about new variants, as the vaccination programme gets well underway and lockdown restrictions ease?
Variants of concern with the E484K mutation seem to spread more easily and quickly than others. The variant of coronavirus first identified in India is likely to become a “variant of concern” which could potentially lead to the country being put on the UK’s travel “red list”, an immunology expert has said.