England to step up testing after 11 S. African variant cases detected
LONDON: Health officials said Monday they will urgently increase testing in eight areas across England where nearly a dozen South African Covid-19 variant cases have been identified in the last week.
The 11 cases, detected in genomic sequencing carried out on random samples of positive coronavirus results, cannot be traced back to international travel, prompting concerns of localised transmission.
The move in the areas – home to around 80,000 people and including parts of London and the southeast, as well as the West Midlands, eastern and northwest England – will see mobile and door-to-door testing capacity rolled out.
In a break with usual procedures, even those not showing virus symptoms can get tested in the affected places.
“If you live in one of these postcodes where we’re sending in enhanced testing, it’s imperative that you stay at home and that you get a test even if you don’t have symptoms,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at a Downing Street press conference.
“This is a stark reminder that the fight against this virus isn’t over yet,” he said, after noting overall infections were falling across Britain weeks into a third lockdown.
The highly transmissible variant first identified in South Africa is spreading rapidly around the world, and was last week detected for the first time in the United States.
Scientists are worried about the mutation because it seems able to elude some of the effects of current vaccines and synthetic antibody treatments, though several firms have said their shots still work against it.
Britain has so far detected 105 cases of the strain since in emerged in December.