Spain has registered its first cases of a coronavirus variant believed to be particularly infectious that emerged in Britain, Madrid's regional government said.

The region said four cases had been detected involving people who had recently arrived from the UK or had close contact with someone who had, according to AFP.

The father, mother and sister of a young man who arrived in Madrid by plane last week have tested positive for the coronavirus variant, it added.

The young man is suspected to have the new variant as well but Spanish authorities are waiting for the results of a polymerase chain reaction PCR test to confirm this.