Britain will offer its genomics expertise to countries lacking resources to identify new variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, the government announced yesterday.

"This pandemic has shown that the foundations of so many of the exciting experiences that make life worth living are contingent not just on our health, or the health of our neighbours, but the health of people we've never met," said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

"When one of us suffers, we all suffer. So we must work to promote health security in every single part of the world," he told a virtual meeting of the Chatham House international affairs think-tank.