THE Health Secretary will lead a press conference today as concerns grow over the South African variant of Covid-19.

Matt Hancock is expected to provide an update on the vaccination programme in the UK when he speaks at Downing Street later this evening.

But he is also likely to provide an update on the South African variant, as well as concerns the Oxford jab – which is already being used in the UK – only has limited effect against it. 

A study of around 2,000 people has shown the jab only offers minimal protection against mild disease of the South Africa variant and, due to the young age of participants, could not conclude whether the jab worked against severe disease.

Health minister Edward Argar said on Monday that Oxford researchers remained confident their vaccine could prevent severe disease for those affected by the variant and that booster jabs to tackle new strains are already in the pipeline.

Some 147 cases of the South African variant have so far been identified in the UK, with experts warning these are likely to be the “tip of the iceberg” due to the fact they are the result of random checks on 5% to 10% of all positive tests.

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Dr Mike Tildesley, who advises the Government as a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), said it was “very possible” the South African variant is already quite widely spread in the UK.

The Warwick University researcher told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The fact we’re starting to see cases in the hundreds, albeit in the low hundreds, means that unless we’ve really got on top of this quickly, I would expect we could see quite a few more cases coming over the next few weeks and possibly quite a little bit more widespread, so it’s a real concern.”

He said “surge testing” currently taking place must be effective to stop the variant spreading widely, but when asked if it may already be quite widely spread, he replied: “It’s very possible.”

Dr Tildesley said lockdown restrictions may be needed for longer if the variant does turn out to be prevalent in the UK.

He added: “If that is the case and actually people can still get infected and still pass on the infection with the South African variant, and of course if it does become widespread across the country, then that has significant implications because it means that even with high levels of vaccination there will be a lot of people that could potentially get infected and could potentially pass it on and it may mean that more restrictions might be needed for longer if we can’t get on top of this.”