Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said community transmission of the variant first identified in Brazil will be identified “very, very quickly” through testing.

“One of the strengths of the UK’s system is obviously our genome sequencing capability; we account for just shy of 50% of all the sequencing of the different variants of Covid-19,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We would pick up, as we have done obviously in these cases, pick up rapidly, both in terms of PCR testing capability – 800,000 capacity per day – and millions of lateral flow tests.

“We would pick up community transmission of this variant very, very rapidly, because we are able to genome sequence so quickly.”

A government scientific adviser has warned there is a risk we “might have to go backwards” after the national coronavirus lockdown is eased.

The comments from professor Graham Medley — a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) — came as the first cases of a “concerning” coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil were found in the UK

Political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has more details:

Labour MP Yvette Cooper has called for stronger government action to stop other more dangerous coronavirus variants from arriving in the UK.

The home affairs select committee chair told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We need to look at how these cases have arrived in the country in the first place in order to prevent others doing so.

“These cases seem to have arrived a month after the Brazil variant was first identified and we were raising with the government the need for stronger action.”

Ms Cooper said many travellers would have taken “indirect flights” from Brazil and that the situation highlighted “gaps” in the system.

Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College, said it looks likely the Brazilian variant is “breaking through” antibodies built up by previous infection.

Citing research on the Brazilian city of Manaus, published in The Lancet journal, he said: “It was expected that there would be quite a high level of protection there because analysis of antibodies in blood bank samples showed [Manaus] had one of the highest levels of immunity in the world coming into the second wave, perhaps more than 70 per cent, and yet they’re seeing this enormous wave of reinfections.”

“So, if you put two and two together their assumption is that’s because the new variant is breaking through those antibodies. But if that hadn’t really been proven yet, it looks likely.”

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said authorities were working with the postal service to locate a person infected with a concerning variant of coronavirus first found in Brazil.

Asked if it is known if the person had travelled to the UK or contracted the virus here, he told BBC Breakfast: “We don’t. Part of the reason why we want to locate them quickly is to understand more about them and their movements.

“They could have had a home test kit or a test kit provided to them by their local authority. But they didn’t fill in the contact details.

“We are working with the postal service to try and get other data to try and locate them, and this appeal is a belt and braces to try and make sure we locate them as quickly as possible.”

More than 20 million people in the UK have now received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Health secretary Matt Hancock posted a video on his Twitter account with the announcement and thanked “every single person who’s come forward to get the jab”.

Health officials are hunting for one of the first UK cases of a Brazil “variant of concern”.

Six cases of the concerning P.1 variant first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus have been confirmed in Britain, three in England and three in Scotland.

Two were confirmed in South Gloucestershire – however, the third English case has not been located and could be anywhere in the nation.

Kate Ng has more details:

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Stay tuned for rolling updates on the latest news and statistics.