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A Covid variant which may be able to fully evade current tests has been spotted in France, it emerged last night.

Eight cases of the 'Breton variant' were detected in a hospital in Lannion, a town in the northwest region of Brittany. 

The French health ministry revealed that despite being infected with the virus, the patients' polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results were negative. They were only spotted through genomic sequencing of the samples.

It's thought to be the first time any variant has slipped past the gold-standard PCR tests, which are critical for keeping track of the pandemic. 

While PCR cannot diagnose other variants, including the Brazil and South African versions, it still gives a Covid positive result. 

Scientists at the Institut Pasteur who discovered the Breton variant said it does not appear to be more transmissible or deadly than the original virus.

They revealed the new strain carries nine mutations on its spike protein, but also in 'other viral regions'. They did not provide any further details.

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Eight cases of the 'Breton variant' were detected in a hospital in Lannion, a town in the northwest region of Brittany.  Scientists revealed the new strain carries nine mutations on its spike protein

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The experts will carry out further research to work out what effect the variant will have on vaccines.  

The emergence of the new strain comes as France suffers rising infection rates and faces calls for another lockdown. The country is recording 20,000 new cases every day.

Neighbouring Italy — which is recording around 15,000 cases a day — went into a lockdown on Monday that will last until April 6.

For comparison, there are just 5,000 infections in Britain, where the rate of infection is 85 per million people, according to statistics by Our World In Data. For comparison, the rate is 355 in France and 370 in Italy.  

Despite new variants cropping up around the world more often, top scientists have warned against becoming 'obsessed' with mutant viruses.

All the of the big vaccine-makers are confident their jabs will still be highly effective against all emerging strains.

Oxford University researchers have claimed it is unlikely a single strain will make the vaccines significantly weaker in the next year.

Instead, they believe there is more chance that a series of evolution over many years could eventually make the current crop of jabs less potent.

But vaccines can be modified in a matter of weeks and regulators in the UK, US and EU have passed laws which means new booster vaccines can be fast-tracked to approval.