Researchers have said that AstraZeneca vaccine against the COVID-19 remains effective the new strain vfirst detected in Kent and the South East of the UK.

The researchers who developed the jab say it has a similar efficacy against the variant compared to the original coronavirus variant it was tested against.

Professor Andrew Pollard, a chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said the new data suggests "the vaccine not only protects against the original pandemic virus, but also protects against the novel variant, B.1.1.7".

That variant discovered at the start of December was partially blamed for COVID-19 cases surging to record-high levels and then continuing to rise into the start of 2021, before lockdown was imposed across the country.

(With input from agencies)