Coronavirus testers will go door-to-door in areas of England as part of an urgent effort to swab 80,000 people in an attempt to halt the spread of the South African strain.
Eleven cases of the variant have been identified over the last five or six days in people who have no links to travel – suggesting it may be spreading in communities.
Matt Hancock told a Downing Street press conference the “stay at home” message was particularly important in areas where the South African variant had been identified amid concerns that vaccines may have diminished effectiveness against the mutation.
(PA Graphics)
Experts from Public Health England (PHE), who have been sequencing around 5% to 10% of all positive cases looking for variants, are now hoping to break any chains of transmission. All but two areas involved single cases of the variant.
England may see a happy and free summer in six months, Matt Hancock says
He made the declaration before his Cabinet colleague Liz Truss said it was too early to tell
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