PEOPLE should not worry about the new Covid variants as long as they follow government guidelines, Swindon’s health boss said.

On a briefing call with reporters, borough council health chief Steve Maddern said the town had seen a progressive downward trend in the number of coronavirus cases – but the case rate remains high.

He said: “We are very much going in the right direction, but obviously we need to be very mindful, the case rate still remains high, so we can’t relax yet.”

A new coronavirus variant has been identified in Brazil, raising questions about whether it could cause more severe disease, or be immune to current vaccines.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is very concerned about the variant, adding that extra measures are being put in place to prevent the variant being imported to the UK.

Mr Maddern said: “We’re concerned about any variants that have been brought into Swindon. At the moment, we don’t have very much data or evidence around the variant that we are seeing coming across the South West.

“We have very little information regarding the Brazilian variant at this time, but from our point of view, our advice to our residents is don’t worry too much about the variants themselves, just focus on the core prevention messages.

“You need to maintain your social distancing, your hand washing, face covering and following the government messaging around staying at home. I think the key message is don’t intentionally or unintentionally mix with people from outside your household.

“I think if people very much focus on that, then they don’t need to worry about which strain of Covid this is.

“But obviously it’s new information for us, we will obviously tailor our advice when we learn more.”

Two new coronavirus deaths were confirmed at the Great Western Hospital yesterday, bringing the death toll to 212. Both of the newly-recorded deaths happened on Wednesday. And another 100 people have tested positive in Swindon. The seven-day rolling infection rate as of January 15 is 451 cases per 100,000 people.

The number of cases has increased in SN2, SN4, SN5, SN6 and SN25 in the past week, and it had decreased in SN1, SN3, and SN26.

The council has managed 21 outbreaks in the past week, involving schools, businesses and health and social care settings.

Mr Maddern said: “We’ve been involved with six care home settings; we haven’t really seen the increase in outbreaks in care home as we did earlier in the pandemic."

The council has submitted plans for community testing and is currently waiting for approval from the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver an asymptomatic testing programme.