Bosses from a Kent printing firm were left in disbelief when they realised their business shares its name with the latest strain of coronavirus.

Omicron Reprographics in Lower Bridge Street, Canterbury, has been inundated with calls and messages from surprised customers following the discovery of the new variant.

Director Dave Loveridge and owner Mark Fawcett-Jones say they have not considered renaming the shop.

Instead, they hope it will put an end to people spelling it incorrectly.

"We've been asked by a few people if we'd considered changing the name, but we haven't," Mr Loveridge explained.

"We've had the business since 2008, and it's been around for 25 years, so we're well-known throughout the south east. We're hoping we won't need to change the name.

"It's our web address and email address. We're forever having to spell it to people as they get the name wrong all the time.

"We're hoping that now they're going to get right, having corrected people for the last 13 years."

Mr Loveridge says he has also noticed several motorists travelling through the city pointing towards the shopfront.

Despite this, he has not witnessed a drop in trade.

"There's been no impact so far and we've had quite a busy day," Mr Loveridge added.

"If people believed it came from us and that we'd started it, then maybe we would have to consider changing the name.

"We're having current and former customers getting in touch and saying 'isn't that strange they've chosen your name?'. The phone's just lit up."

The Omicron variant was first detected in Botswana and is believed to be more transmissible and more likely to evade people's existing immunity than other strains.

Nine cases have so far been discovered across the UK.

And from tomorrow face masks will have to be worn in shops and on public transport in England to help battle the spread of the illness.