Covid-19 strain "was at home all along". Health Secretary Matt Hancock defended Test and Trace after the six person carrying the variant was finally located after a five-day search.
He said: "The best evidence is that this person in question stayed at home, and there's no sign that there's been any onward transmission."'Patient X' had not provided their contact details after returning to their home in Croydon, south London, from Brazil, so they could not be reached.
The hunt for the mystery patient had been narrowed down to 379 households in the south-east of England before the patient was eventually found after a nationwide search.