Community Covid testing is to be expanded in two more cities to stem the spread of the South African variant of the coronavirus, as it emerged that the Kent variant was developing some of the same mutations.
In a sequence of events illustrating the ever-changing battle faced by ministers in curbing the spread of variants that could be more resistant to vaccines, Matt Hancock used a Commons statement to announce the expansion of efforts to combat a South African strain of coronavirus, feared to be more resistant to existing vaccines.
On Monday, the government urged people in eight areas of England to stay at home in almost all circumstances and to expect possible tests after cases of the variant were found in those locations.
On Tuesday, Hancock, the health secretary, said there had been 11 cases of “mutations of concern” in Bristol and 32 in Liverpool, and that both cities had been added to areas that will see large amounts of community testing.
“As with the variant first identified here in the UK, there is currently no evidence to suggest it is any more severe but we have to come down on it hard,” Hancock told MPs. “Our mission must be to stop its spread all together and break those chains of transmission.”
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