| UPDATED: 10:23, Thu, Dec 24, 2020
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Matt Hancock outlines details of new variant from South Africa
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The Health Secretary has been forced to plunge more areas into lockdown as he warned another fast-spreading strain of the virus had been discovered. But he said the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was on the brink of being approved and hoped the vast majority of jabs could be given early next year. Mr Hancock told a Downing Street news conference: “I believe that everybody will do what is needed to keep themselves and others safe, especially this Christmas, and I know from the bottom of my heart that there are brighter skies ahead.”