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On Monday evening, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 105 cases of the South African Covid-19 variant had been found in the UK. Of those, 11 had no links to international travel. In response, the government is beginning mass, door-to-door testing in eight parts of England where the variant was found – they are in Surrey, London, Kent, Hertfordshire, Southport and Walsall. Around 80,000 people over 16 will be tested, regardless of symptoms. Mr Hancock said he wanted to “find every case” of the variant to “break the chains of transmission”. He said there was “no evidence” to suggest the South African variant was more severe – but it’s thought it may be more contagious. Dr Susan Hopkins from Public Health England said vaccines “perhaps” could have “diminished effectiveness” on the variant, but would still be “very good”. Learn more about the South African variant here – and watch Mr Hancock’s announcement below.
