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Matt Hancock will hold a press conference on Monday as the hunt continues for a missing patient with a concerning Brazil coronavirus variant.

The Health Secretary will hold the Downing Street briefing at 5pm.

It comes after a search was launched for an unknown patient who was infected with a concerning Covid-19 variant first identified in Manaus, Brazil.

The missing person, who did not complete their test details online, is one of six cases of the P1 variant which was found in the UK last month.

Health officials said the cases were discovered across England and Scotland on Friday and Saturday.

Mr Hancock is expected to provide an update of how the emergence of the strain impacts on Britain's response to the pandemic.

He is also expected to discuss the vaccine roll-out.

Figures show 20million people in the UK have received a first dose of a Covid vaccine.

Two of the three cases of the Brazilian variant in England have been found in the same South Gloucestershire household, which has a history of travel to Brazil.

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An urgent alert has been issued to find the other case after the test came back positive on February 14.

The Brazilian strain has been designated “of concern” as it shares key mutations with the variant detected in South Africa, which is more transmissible than the original strain.

Concerns have been raised vaccines may not be as effective against the variant.

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But Professor Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, said jabs could be rapidly adapted.

And Boris Johnson said: "We don't have any reason at the present time to think that our vaccines are ineffective against these new variants of all types."

Public Health England "don't think that there is a threat to the wider public", he added.

The Prime Minister said a "massive effort" was under way to prevent new variants spreading.

Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee, called for "stronger action" to prevent other dangerous variants arriving in the UK.

The Labour MP said many travellers would have taken "indirect flights" from Brazil and that the situation highlighted "gaps" in the system.

• Coronavirus

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