No cases of the variant have been detected so far in the UK. Officials believe there is a low likelihood of the new strain entering Britain as the prevalence of infection — less than one per cent a week ago — in South Africa is relatively low.  

Health officials believe the new variant, called B.1.1.529, is the worst yet to emerge. Its catalogue of 32 mutations have made the virus “dramatically different” to anything seen before, according to experts.

The mutations occur throughout the virus, including on the spike protein which allows the coronavirus to enter human cells, leaving leading molecular biologists and virologists in the UK concerned.

Experts fear the variant has the potential to be more infectious than delta, the current dominant strain, and better at dodging antibodies than the beta variant. Beta first emerged in late 2020 in South Africa and is the strain most capable of evading the vaccine. 

The World Health Organisation is meeting with South African officials on Friday to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in the country.

Health officials will decide whether to declare the new strain a “variant under investigation” or a “variant of concern”. The UK currently has no plans to make this distinction itself due to a lack of data. 

The strain, once officially recognised by the WHO, is likely to receive the moniker Nu, the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet.

B.1.1.529 has been found in 77 cases in South Africa, four in Botswana, and one in Hong Kong, in a patient who had recently visited South Africa.