This might be premature but if it kicks on it has the potential to put the entire vax/lockdown program back to square-1. A possibility that was always on the cards - and the fatal flaw with using man-made tech solutions to solve man-made problems.

FT: De Oliveira said there were traits present in the new variant that have previously been associated with high transmissibility. “And the key question to be answered is what exactly is the effect on the vaccines.”

Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the WHO, said the new variant had “a number of worrying mutations in the spike protein”.