COVID-19: Surge testing to take place in area of ​​north London after South African variant cases discovered | UK News

Surge tests are due to take place in an area in north London after cases of the South African variant of COVID-19 were detected there.

Health officials, from Thursday, will begin testing people for the variant in and around Finchley in the Borough of Barnet.

A statement from the Borough said: “We will start testing people for this variant in specific postcode areas affected in N3 or those who shop on the local main street.”

A mobile test unit will be set up in the parking lot at Finchley Central Station and teams will be going door-to-door to offer home PCR test kits.

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It comes as the UK has registered 38 more coronavirusrelated deaths and 2,491 new cases in the last 24-hour period, according to government figures.

Data also shows that 76,123 people received their first dose of a COVID vaccine on Tuesday, bringing the total to 32,326,604.

In addition, 312,685 people had their second stroke on Tuesday, which means 8,170,081 people have now had both strokes in the UK.

Earlier this week, surge tests began in areas of south London Wandsworth and Lambeth.

The two boroughs are testing around 650,000 people after the discovery of dozens of cases of the South African variant of COVID.

The first case is believed to have been detected in a person who arrived in the UK from Africa in early March, but the Department of Health and Social Affairs (DHSC) would only say that the first recorded incidence was “part of it. of a group of households “.

It is believed that this outbreak then spread to a nursing home in Lambeth, where 23 cases were reported.

It has also expanded to two primary schools in Wandsworth which offer additional surge testing.

A DHSC statement said: “Control measures were put in place in these settings as soon as cases of COVID-19 were identified.”

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