Army deployed for surge testing drive amid spike in north-west England

THE army will be deployed in parts of the north-west of England to help with surge testing efforts to combat the Indian variant, the Prime Minister has said.

There will also be “targeted new activity” in Bolton and Blackburn to accelerate the vaccine rollout, Boris Johnson said.

Surge testing is under way in the north-west of England where cases involving the Indian variant of coronavirus are on the increase.

The “variant of concern” has been detected in Bolton, Greater Manchester, as well as in Blackburn, Lancashire, and Sefton in Merseyside, which have all seen virus rates rising rapidly. Mr Johnson warned those living in Bolton and other affected areas that “there is now a greater risk from this new variant” as he urged people to be “extra cautious”.

“Our best chance of suppressing this variant is to clamp down on it where it is and we will be throwing everything we can at this task,” he said.

Mr Johnson said Colonel Russ Miller, Commander of the North West Region, will be “deployed to support local leaders in managing the response on the ground.”

He told yesterday’s press conference: “There will be surge testing, with mobile testing units, and the army will be on the streets handing out tests.

“And there will be targeted new activity in Bolton and Blackburn to accelerate vaccine take-up among eligible cohorts – including longer opening hours at vaccination sites.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council initially said on Thursday that it would be offering vaccines to all over-18s from next week following the increase in cases, but later said that, although additional vaccine clinics are being set up, the jab will only be offered to those eligible under current Government guidance.

The area’s director of public health, Professor Dominic Harrison, said on Twitter that the authority had asked the NHS to “surge vaccinate” but the request was refused.

He tweeted: “At the moment the Indian variant is surging in a small number of #localgov areas.

“These areas have a window of opportunity to control the wider spread across the UK by a mixture of community engagement, surge testing and surge vaccination.

“If the Government stops areas with high #Indianvariant cases from ‘surge vaccinating’ target areas (which will contribute to reduced transmission) – it will reduce our local capacity to control spread.”

In Bolton, the area with the highest rate of cases, mobile testing units have been deployed and doorto-door PCR Covid testing has been offered to 22,000 residents.

A vaccine bus has been set up to increase uptake among those who are eligible and a rapid response team of 100 nurses, public health advisers and environmental health officers has been sent in.

In the affluent Formby area of Sefton, new drive-through and walkthrough test centres were set up yesterday, specifically to identify the Indian variant.