Cases of the Indian variant recorded in the UK surge

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs today that the Indian variant of cases has now reached almost 3,000 in the UK.

On Monday cases were at 2,323 and as of Wednesday there are now 2,967 known cases which has gone up by 28%.

Hancock said that surge testing and vaccinations will start at Hounslow in London, North Tyneside, Leicster, Bedford, Burnley and Kirklees.

Hancock told MPs, “What this means in practice is we are putting in place more testing and more testing sites.

“On vaccinations, we are making more vaccinations available to everyone who is eligible.”

The Health Secretary added, “But this challenge is not restricted to Bolton and Blackburn.

“We have used the extensive bio-security surveillance system that we have built and new techniques to identify the areas we are most concerned about where we will now surge testing and vaccinations further.”

A scientific advisor told Sky News, “It might take three to four weeks to immunise Bolton, but the epidemic has been doubling every week.

“So just using vaccination may not be enough to contain it, meaning you may actually have to put places into lockdown.”