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COVID-19: SA strain forces UK to begin door-to-door testing

Paramedics prepare to remove a patient from an ambulance parked outside Guy's Hospital in London on December 29, 2020, as a new strain of the coronavirus appears to be behind the recent upsurge in cases, heaping further pressure on the state-run National Health Service during its busiest winter period. - England is "back in the eye" of the coronavirus storm, health chiefs warned, with as many patients in hospital as during the initial peak in April. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

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New Delhi: The United Kingdom on Tuesday started door-to-door testing as new South African variant of COVID-19 spread through the country.

Residents in eight areas of the country would now be tested whether or not they were showing symptoms, a process known as “surge testing”, according to media reports.

The UK reported 105 cases of the South African variant since December 22 and is bracing to contain new outbreaks.

British health officials have tested around 80,000 people in eight suspected areas: three in London, two in the southeast, one in central England, one in the east and the last in the northwest

Michelle Donelan, a junior education minister, said that “It is concerning — it’s deeply concerning, It’s still a very perilous stage of this virus and we have got these new variants spreading.”

A few weeks ago, Britain rolled out a mass vaccination programme in which nearly 9.3 million people have already received the first shot.

The country’s top scientific advisers have favoured tougher border restrictions.

(Vinayak)