Covid: Is UK now a breeding ground for new variants?

Are we in the danger zone for creating new variants that could weaken the ability of vaccines to shield us from Covid? And does it matter?

Scientists have warned that the UK has created the perfect conditions by relaxing restrictions - which could see cases reaching 100,000 a day this summer - while large numbers of people don't have protection from both doses of the vaccine.

So far, the problematic variants have been those that spread significantly faster. The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, may spread twice as fast as the original form of the virus that emerged in China.

But speed isn't the only useful trait a coronavirus can acquire.

As more of us become immune, through vaccination and catching Covid, the more beneficial it is for the virus to evolve ways of dodging that immunity - known as immune escape.

"We are probably at the evolutionary high point, at the worst combination for an escape to happen in the UK," said Dr Aris Katzourakis, who studies viral evolution at the University of Oxford.