South Africa variant: Surge testing deployed in Brentwood

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Surge coronavirus testing will be deployed in Birmingham after a confirmed case of the South African Covid variant was detected in the region. Several postcodes in the region are already seeing this mass testing regime implemented in the area, but now it has been extended to several more wards in the city. 

Urging testing measures are being implemented across new areas in Birmingham after the South African COVID-19 mutation was detected.

Several areas of the country have seen this programme brought to their regions in the wake of new cases of this variant emerging.

A Department of Health and Social Care said the confirmed case has self-isolated and their contacts have been identified.

Initial investigations indicate that this case is not linked to a case previously identified in the Birmingham and Sandwell areas.

The South African Covid variant is causing the most concern for experts according to experts.

There have been 644 confirmed cases of the South African strain in the UK since it was first identified in December.

More than a third of these, in total 227, have emerged in the past month.

Ministers were told South African variant cases have increased by more than 5.5 percent in the past 10 days. 

Surge testing was already underway in the Birmingham and Sandwell regions after other cases of the South African variant were found. 

The targeted approach will now be extended to households in the city’s Alum Rock, Glebe Farm and Tile cross areas.

Enhanced contact tracing will be used for individuals testing positive with a variant of concern, which is where contact tracers look back over an extended period in order to determine the route of transmission.

People with Covid symptoms are asked to book a free test online or by phone so they can get tested at a testing site or be sent a home-testing kit.

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