UK Covid: Matt Hancock says final decision on further unlocking to be taken on 14 June – as it happened
Health secretary says government will make decision on unlocking on 14 June as cases of Indian variant rise 28% in two days. This live blog is now closed - please follow the global coronavirus live blog for updates
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6.35pm BST
[In] every area where we're seeing variants across the country we're looking continuously to see if we are getting increased hospital admissions, and if there are any fatalities associated with it.
And actually we are not seeing that at the moment. The change in numbers ... is really too small [to serve as evidence the variant is driving hospital numbers up]. We're seeing a fairly flat level of admissions. We have cases and we expect people to come in and out of hospital. We're not seeing sharp rises at the moment but clearly we will continue to monitor that.
I think scientists are sure that this virus is more transmissible than the strain that it is beginning to replace, which is the old Kent B.1.1.7 strain.
The million dollar question is how much more transmissible - we don't have that yet.
6.05pm BST
Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, says there are 41 India variant cases in Wales - but only 25 cases of the variant of concern, B.1.617.2.
There are now 41 cases in Wales of the so-called India coronavirus variant. This new strain variant could be more transmissible than the Kent variant, which is the dominant form of the virus in the UK.
We're closely monitoring the situation and all cases are being investigated.
This is where it gets complicated. There are three different types of the so-called India variant, which we are closely monitoring.
Of the 41 cases in Wales, 25 are cases of the variant of concern (VOC) - this is the variant which we're most concerned about.