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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged countries to keep testing for Covid-19 and to step up genomic sequencing so new mutations can be detected next year.

It has also warned people could experience pandemic fatigue in 2021, Daily Mirror reported.

Variants to the virus in the UK and South Africa, which appear to be more infectious, have caused concern around the world.

Several countries have closed their borders to both the UK and South Africa but the mutations have still popped up a number of places including France, Germany and Japan.

"There will be setbacks and new challenges in the year ahead – for example new variants of Covid-19 and helping people who are tired of the pandemic continue to combat it," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at an online news conference from Geneva, Switzerland.

He added the WHO is working closely with scientists across the world to ‘better understand any and all changes to the virus’ and their impact.

Mr Tedros said he wanted to "underscore the importance of increasing genomic sequencing capacity worldwide" and of sharing information with the UN health agency and other countries.

He added "only if countries are looking and testing effectively will you be able to pick up variants and adjust strategies to cope."