Downing Street says accusations of intellectual property theft and cyberattacks are taken "extremely seriously", following reports that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine's design was used to create Russia's Sputnik V jab.

Axar.az reports that the prime minister's official spokesman refuses to comment on the specific claims that "security services" sources have evidence that Russian intelligence agents stole the Oxford coronavirus vaccine design.

But he says: "We take any such accusations of intellectual property theft and cyberattacks extremely seriously, and we've called out attempts in the past.

"But as you would expect, I'm not going to comment on matters on the intelligence front."

Asked about reports that France had almost five million doses of the vaccine destined for the UK diverted, the spokesman says: "It's thanks to the work of our vaccine programmes that we have a diverse and a strong supply of vaccinations, and we have throughout.

"That enabled us to move quickly through our programme, and it's one of the main reasons why we are one of the most open economies in Europe currently."