THE new coronavirus variant accounts for two thirds of the new cases across Wales according to the deputy chief medical officer.

Dr Chris Jones was speaking today as part of the Welsh Government's coronavirus update briefing.

The new strain, which he said was around 70 per cent more infectious than the previous version of the infection, is spreading quickly across Wales and the south and south east of England.

"We have seen a number of mutations since the SARS-Cov-2 virus was first identified in Wuhan just over a year ago," he said.

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"This new strain of the coronavirus is concerning.

"This new strain appears to be much more infectious than the strain which originated in Wuhan and is more easily transmitted from person to person."

Dr Jones stressed however, that the new variant was not thought at this time to cause more serious illness.

It is also not thought to be affected any differently by the vaccine, which is already being rolled out across the UK.

Dr Jones said that the new variant was likely the driver of the growth in cases seen in Wales recently.

"We believe this new strain could be causing up to 60 per cent of coronavirus infections in Wales," he said.

First minister Mark Drakeford, who joined Dr Jones at the briefing today, said that to date there were believed to be more than 600 cases of the variant in Wales.

"This is almost certainly an underestimation," he said.

"We expect these numbers to be well below the numbers actually in circulation."