LONDON – England has begun house-by-house COVID-19 testing in some communities as authorities try to snuff out a new variant of the virus before it spreads widely and undermines a nationwide vaccination program.
Authorities want to reach the 80,000 residents of eight areas where the variant, first identified in South Africa, is known to be spreading.
The focus is on communities where 11 cases have been detected among people who haven’t traveled abroad. Home testing kits and mobile testing units are being dispatched in an effort to reach every resident of those communities. “Our mission must be to stop its spread altogether and break those chains of transmission,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons.