The Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance has said the new variant of Covid-19 has already “spread around the country”.

In the lead up to Christmas, Vallance said local health directors “need to make decisions that they need to make” to ensure their local population is looked after.

“The new variant is spread around the country,” he said.

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“It’s localised in some places but we know there are cases everywhere, so it’s not as though we can stop this getting into other places, there’s some there already.

“The message has been very clear and, I think I want to reinforce it, is stay local.

“I mean, people shouldn’t be travelling around the country at the moment.”

The Government’s chief scientific advisor appeared alongside the Prime Minister to address the nation during a Downing Street press conference on Monday night. 

He warned there will be an “increase in numbers” of the new variant in the coming weeks as we enter a “period of inevitable mixing”.

When asked why the whole country is not in lockdown after London and large swathes of south-east England were placed in Tier 4 restrictions to control the new variant of coronavirus over the weekend, Sir Vallance suggested measures across the country will be tightened in the coming weeks.

He told a Downing Street briefing on coronavirus: “The evidence on this virus is that it spreads easily, it’s more transmissible, we absolutely need to make sure we have the right level of restrictions in place.

“I think it is likely that this will grow in numbers of the variant across the country and I think it’s likely, therefore, that measures will need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced.

“I think it is the case that this will spread more.”

He continued to explain that there is no reason to think the new variant is more dangerous than the existing strain.

He told the Downing Street press conference: “Evidence that this can transmit more readily is becoming clear in terms of the data of the rapid spread of this virus across areas.

“The transmission is increased, but we can’t say exactly by how much, but it is clearly substantially increased, so it is more transmissible, which is why we see it growing so fast and spreading to so many areas.

“There is no evidence that the disease course is any different, so if you catch it the disease looks the same as any other form of Covid infection.

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“In terms of the immune response, there is nothing to suggest that this won’t have the same susceptibility to antibody attack from vaccine or pre-existing infection as any other form.

“At the moment, the vaccine looks as though it should be as effective and that’s obviously being looked at.”