Matt Hancock: It is 'on all of us' to drive down new South Africa coronavirus strain

Health officials said today that 11 people had tested positive for the new variant over the last five or six days which were not linked to international travel, suggesting pockets of spread in local communities of the new variant.

Some 105 cases of the South Africa variant have been detected so far.

And mobile testing units and some home testing kits are being sent into eight postcode areas of London, the West Midlands, East of England, South East and the North West.

Speaking from Downing Street, Mr Hancock said:“It is not straightforward [...] there may be further cases we don’t know about yet and our genomic sequencing is in place to try to spot them.

“The most important thing is that people in the postcode areas outlined need to take extra special precautions.

“It is absolutely vital that people in those areas minimise all social contact and get a test when the opportunity arises.

“It’s a big effort getting this new variant… essentially finding every single case of it, that is the goal.”

Public Health England’sDr Susan Hopkins said three of the vaccines that had been used in trials had shown to be effective against the new South African coronavirus variant.

“We expect all other vaccines to have a similar level of effectiveness, particularly in reducing hospitalisation and death,” she said.

It comes as Mr Hancock revealed the UK has now vaccinated 9.2m people, with more than 900,000 vaccinated over the weekend.

He said almost nine in 10 of all those aged over 80 had been vaccinated, with over half of those in their 70s receiving a jab.

He added: “We have visited every single care home with older residents in England and offered vaccinations to all of their residents and staff – this has been an incredible example of health and social care working together.”

Mr Hancock said that the UK has now ordered another 40m vaccine doses from Valneva, adding that the UK is continuing with its “no regrets” attitude to backing vaccines that have yet to be approved.

He said that if it gains approval, the Valneva vaccine will be manufactured in Livingston in Scotland.

But he failed to “put to bed” what he called a “myth” that some parts of the UK would see their vaccine allocations cut to support areas where the roll out had not been as successful.

Asked about the situation he said: “We’re making sure that the vaccine goes to all parts of… the whole country including all of the devolved areas and making sure that happens on a fair basis according to need,” he said.

But he did not deny this meant areas in the North which had performed well in getting through priority groups would see a decrease in their allocation while other areas caught up.

The Health Secretary said the North East of England had been “first out of the blocks” and that the North West was “going great guns too”.

“I’m really grateful for everyone who is working so hard,” he said.

“There is a bumpy supply schedule for the whole country.”