A major outbreak of a new variant of Covid-19 has been discovered in a Norfolk care home, government officials have said.

The UK Health Security Agency has said that 34 cases of BA.2.86 - or Pirola - have been detected nationwide.

And the organisation has revealed that 28 of these cases were found in a single care home in Norfolk. The agency is working with Norfolk County Council to address the outbreak.

It is not clear at this stage which care home has been affected and what action is being taken.

Reports in national newspaper i also state that five people have been taken to hospital with the new variant - but does not specify whether these are linked to the outbreak.

It comes after concern about the variant saw health bosses locally bring forward a new vaccine rollout - which had been scheduled to start next month. 

Instead, the rollout is set to begin on Monday, September 11, and offered to several groups including adults over 65, carers and pregnant women. 

Dr Renu Bindra, incident director at  UKHSA said: "While BA.2.86 has a significant number of mutations to the viral genome compared to other currently circulating COVID-19 variants, the data so far is too limited to draw firm conclusions about the impact this will have on the transmissibility, severity or immune escape properties of the virus.

"Specialists from UKHSA have been working with Norfolk County Council to offer infection control advice and support following a confirmed outbreak of BA.2.86 in a care home.

"It is clear that there is some degree of widespread community transmission, both in the UK and globally, and we are working to ascertain the full extent of this."

Do you have a relative in the home? Contact david.hannant@newsquest.co.uk