The new variant is spreading more rapidly than the original version, but it is not believed to be more deadly, reports BBC.

Along with the UK, the same mutation of the Covid-19 virus has also been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, the WHO told the BBC.

However, there is no evidence to show that the new variant of the deadly virus reacts differently to vaccines.

In the UK, large parts of south-east England, including London, are now under a new, stricter level of restrictions in a bid to curb the rapidly spreading virus, reports BBC.

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove said that specialists had been "following mutations across the world since the beginning of the pandemic".