Two new postcodes get door-to-door 'surge' Covid testing as South Africa variant found

TWO new postcodes in the UK will be given door-to-door "surge" Covid testing after the South Africa variant was found.

Brits living in the Worcestershire County Council areas WR3 and parts of the WR9 postcode will be able to get a test.

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Those living near The White Hart pub in Fernhill Heath, near Worcester, will be able to get a test at a mobile testing hub – even if they don't have symptoms.

Home testing kits will also be made available in order to test as many people as possible.

Health officials are scrambling to prevent the surge of the South Africa strain, as it is feared that it could reduce the efficacy of vaccines.

Director of public health for Worcestershire, Dr Kathryn Cobain said: "I urge everyone offered a test to take it up to help us to monitor the virus in our communities and to help suppress and control the spread of this variant."

It comes just days after it was revealed 11 rogue cases of the South African strain, with no links to foreign travel, were detected across eight postcodes in England.

Mr Hancock has said residents in affected areas should leave home only if they absolutely must.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan encouraged people to raid their cupboards for food rather than go to the shops and to exercise at home.

She said: “The time is now for them to have extra conversations with their employers, for them to consider: do they really need to go to the shops or could they have what they’ve got in their house?

“And do they need to go outside to exercise — could they do that indoors?”

It comes after a major door-to-door testing blitz on up to 350,000 people launched last week in a fightback against the new strains in hotspot areas.

Hundreds were handed out in the towns of Woking in Surrey and Maidstone in Kent.

Cops, firefighters and volunteers knocked on doors, stepped back and delivered a letter asking if the residents wanted a testing kit.

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