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MUTANT SPREADS
Three new areas get door-to-door ‘surge’ Covid testing as South Africa variant is found
THREE new postcodes in the UK will be given door-to-door "surge" Covid testing after the South Africa variant was found.
Brits living in areas of Sefton, Merseyside, and parts of Bristol and South Gloucestershire will be able to get a test after cases of the variant with no links to international travel were identified.
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Home testing kits will be made available in order to test as many people as possible, Worcestershire County Council confirmed.
Health officials are scrambling to prevent the surge of the South Africa strain, as it is feared that it could reduce the efficacy of vaccines.
The Department for Health and Social Care has said more areas will have additional testing made available to control the spread of Covid-19 variants.
A statement said: "More areas will have additional testing made available to control and suppress the spread of Covid-19 variants.
"Working in partnership with local authorities, additional surge testing and sequencing is being deployed to targeted areas around Worcestershire WR3, an area in Sefton PR9, and areas in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, where Covid-19 variants have been found.
"Surge testing is in addition to existing extensive testing, and in combination with following the lockdown rules and remembering hands-face-space, will help to monitor and suppress the spread of the virus. Positive cases will be sequenced for genomic data to help understand Covid-19 variants and their spread within these areas.
"People living in targeted areas with these locations are strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 test this week, whether they are showing symptoms or not. People with symptoms should book a test in the usual way. People without symptoms should visit their local authority website for more information. Council websites will be updated with more information as soon as it is available.
"Surge testing in Kent ME15 which began on Monday is now complete."
Scientists have warned the mutation, named 501YV2, is feared to be at least 50 per cent more contagious, with hundreds more undetected cases thought to be in the country.
It comes just days after it was revealed 11 rogue cases of the South African strain, with no links to foreign travel, were detected across eight postcodes in England.
A major door-to-door testing blitz on up to 350,000 people was launched earlier this week in a fightback against the new strains in hotspot areas.
Testing of around 10,000 people in Maidstone, Kent, was completed on Thursday night.
Meanwhile in Surrey, testing in Woking was expected to finish yesterday with door-to-door deliveries in Egham and Thorpe due to begin on Saturday.
NEW VARIANTS DISCOVERED
It comes after new mutant strains of Covid have been detected in the UK, sparking a race to develop booster jabs.
Both new variants — found in Bristol and Liverpool — have the E484K mutation which scientists fear reduces protection provided by current vaccines.
It is the same change that is causing the most concern in the South African and Brazilian variants.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the threat, with government scientists and pharma firms now working on booster doses against these new mutations.
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Universities minister Michelle Donelan encouraged people in affected areas to raid their cupboards for food rather than go to the shops and to exercise at home.
She said: “The time is now for them to have extra conversations with their employers, for them to consider: do they really need to go to the shops or could they have what they’ve got in their house?
“And do they need to go outside to exercise — could they do that indoors?”
Despite the spike in cases of new variants, scientists at Oxford University said the jabs rollout may have already begun to stop the virus spreading.
They found a 67 per cent drop in positive swabs among those vaccinated meaning they cannot pass the bug on.
Their findings, published in respected medical journal The Lancet, also revealed just one jab gives 76 per cent protection for three months.
In Worcestershire, a mobile testing unit has been set up at The White Hart pub in Fernhill Heath, near Worcester, for adults with no symptoms living within walking distance.
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A drive-through testing site is planned to open in the coming days, and door-to-door testing will also be made available.
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Worcestershire County Council said: "Working in partnership with NHS Test and Trace, every person over the age of 18, living in the WR3 postcode and some WR9 postcodes, is strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 test this week, even if they are not showing symptoms."
Encouraging locals in Worcester, to get a test, Director of public health for Worcestershire, Dr Kathryn Cobain said: "I urge everyone offered a test to take it up to help us to monitor the virus in our communities and to help suppress and control the spread of this variant."
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Matt Hancock says cases of South Africa Covid variant in Liverpool and Bristol as he pleads with impacted residents to stay at home