British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Saturday that its vaccine developed with the University of Oxford appeared to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the coronavirus variant that was first detected in the South Africa, based on early data from a trial.

Scientists are working on a new version of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to tackle the variant which "will be available for the autumn."

"It looks very much like (the new vaccine) will be available for the autumn. We're already working on the first part of the manufacturing process in Oxford, that will be passed on to other members of the manufacturing supply chain as we go through the spring, and it looks very much like that we can have a new version ready to use in the autumn," professor of vaccinology at Oxford University Sarah Gilbert told the BBC.