Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed that a new Coronavirus variant has been identified in the South of England.

The news comes as Teddington and the whole of London is preparing to go into tier 3 on Wednesday.

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Mr Hancock added that there was "nothing to suggest" the mutated strain of coronavirus causes stronger symptoms or that it will be resistant to the vaccine which is being rolled out.

"We have identified a new variant of coronavirus, which may be associated with the fastest spread in the south-east of England. Initial analysis suggests that this variant is growing faster than the existing variants," Mr Hancock said.

"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.

"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."