Another 104 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus and a further 5,455 new cases have been reported in Britain.

This compares to the 144 deaths and 6,035 new infections recorded on Sunday.

This even as the hunt for an individual in the UK infected with a coronavirus variant from Brazil intensifies.

The COVID-19 variant, first seen in the city of Manaus, is feared to spread more rapidly than the original virus and could be more capable of evading existing vaccines.

Three cases of the P.1 coronavirus variant have been confirmed in England and three in Scotland, Public Health England said.

Separately a total of 20,275,451 people have now received their first COVID-19 jabs while 815,816 people have had both.

(With input from agencies)