The mutant strain of Covid-19 which has caused cases to soar in England and the south east is more than 50% more infectious.

According to data released by Public Health England (PHE), people with the mutant strain are 54% more likely to pass it on to others.

The PHE report said that the proportion of people who caught the new strain was 15.1%, much higher than 9.8% of people who tested positive after coming into close contact with someone infected by another variant.

However, it also found that the mutant strain does not appear to cause worse symptoms or more deaths. It also found no evidence that the new strain was more infectious in children than other variants.

The data, published yesterday in a technical report, also suggests that the number of all cases accounted for by the new strain was up in all age groups.

Dr Susan Hopkins, PHE’s senior medical adviser, said: ‘Our investigations continue into a new strain of Sars-Cov-2, predominantly in the south and east of England.

‘Preliminary evidence suggests that the new variant does not cause more severe disease or increased mortality but we are continuing our investigations to understand this better.

‘The best way to stop infection, whatever the variant, is to stick to the rules — wash our hands, wear a face covering and keep our distance from others.’

The report was released as the total coronavirus cases hit a new record yesterday, rising above 50,000 for the first time to 53,135 lab-confirmed cases.

It also comes as a Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca was approved for use in the UK, paving the way for a mass rollout.

The jab, hailed as a ‘game changer’, was given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on Wednesday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the news as ‘fantastic’, adding: ‘I am now, with this approval this morning, highly confident that we can get enough vulnerable people vaccinated by the spring that we can now see the route out of this pandemic.’

He said there would be a difficult few weeks ahead ‘but we also know that there is a route out of this’.

He added: ‘The vaccine provides that route out. We have all just got to hold our nerve over the weeks to come.’

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