there's growing concern among health
experts about the south african variant
of coronavirus
after random checks found a number of
cases in the uk
which could not be linked to
international travel
the health secretary for england matt
hancock said authorities across the uk
would have to come down hard on this
variant
around 80 000 people in england will be
offered urgent
tests now door-to-door testing will be
carried out in the affected areas
certain postcodes in london the west
midlands
hertfordshire kent surrey and merseyside
mr hancock urged people in these
postcode areas
to stay at home unless they absolutely
have to leave
to get a covered test health officials
are confident that the current vaccines
will be effective
against the south african strain but
probably not as effective as they are
against the others
our health editor hugh pim has the
latest details
new mobile testing units have moved into
some communities in england
part of a drive to track the spread of
the south african variant of the virus
all this after a handful of cases were
discovered which could not be linked to
arrivals from south africa
or other countries around 80 000 people
aged 16 and over in eight areas most in
the south east of england and one in the
west midlands
have been asked to take tests regardless
of symptoms
positive cases will be analyzed to see
if they're caused by the variant
if you live in one of these postcodes
where we're sending in enhanced testing
then it is
imperative that you stay at home and
that you get a test
even if you don't have symptoms
this is so important so that we can
break the chains of the transmission
of this new variant
and we've got to bring this virus to
heal how confident
are you that the existing vaccines in
use
will be effective against the south
african variant
so three of the vaccines that are
that have been used to date in trials
have shown that they've been effective
against the south african variant
we expect all other vaccines to have a
similar level of effectiveness
particularly in reducing hospitalization
and death
there's speculation the vaccines might
have to be adjusted
to cope with new variants it is unlikely
that people would have to start again
much more likely that it would be a
booster shot a bit like the annual flea
vaccine
local councils like woking have been
sent home testing
kits officials have been preparing to
distribute them as fast as possible
the aim now is to contact as many
households as they can
what we're doing is mobilizing over 100
volunteers
to go out and knock on resident stores
in a
in a defined geographical area with
letters and testing kits with a request
that they carry out a test
themselves and then we'll come and
collect it so this is about
identifying what how far the
south african variant has spread within
the community
in the areas being targeted like hanwell
in west london
local people have been urged to take
extra precautions
with a call for them to minimize social
contact as well as getting a test as
soon as they can
officials say the variant doesn't make
people sicker than the original strain
but it can spread fast and that's what
they want to stop
hugh pim bbc news we'll talk to you in
just a moment let's have a look at the
latest government figures
they show there were 18 607 new
coronavirus infections recorded
in the latest 24-hour period which means
that on average
the number of new cases reported per day
in the past week is twenty three
thousand
seven hundred and thirty two number of
people in hospital has fallen slightly
down to thirty four thousand
seven hundred and eighty three four
hundred and six deaths were reported
that's people who died within 28 days
of a positive covet test and that figure
is always
somewhat lower after the weekend on
average in the past week
there were 1148 deaths announced every
day
taking the total so far across the uk to
106
564. let's have a look at the vaccine
rollout
um this shows that 319 038 people
have had their first dose of one of the
three approved
covid19 vaccines in the latest 24-hour
period
and that means in total that nearly 9.3
million people in the uk have had their
first
vaccination so as i mentioned
hugh is with me and when we look at the
challenge
posed by the south african variant
what's your understanding of the scale
of that
well huge look at it one way there are
just 11 cases where there are no known
links to international travel
105 in all officials say it doesn't make
patients sicker than they would have
been with the original strain of the
virus and as we've been hearing
public health england certainly think
that the vaccines
will be effective enough if not quite as
effective
as they were with that first strain
but it is more transmissible that means
it spreads more rapidly a bit like that
original
uk variant which emerged in kent back at
the turn of last year
or towards the end of last year and
that's what they really are worried
about why they are putting people into
these local communities flooding it with
testing capability
in matt hancock's words to come down
very hard on it to stop it spreading any
further
because of course across the uk cases
are falling 30 percent
week on week hospital admissions are
coming down 20
week on week they don't want this
picking up again
of course at a time when ministers and
officials are looking ahead to the
possibility
of easing restrictions okay hugh once
again many thanks
hugh pim our health editor