The search for a mystery missing patient with the more virulent Brazilian variant of Covid-19 has been narrowed down to 379 households in the South East, Matt Hancock has said.
The health secretary said just 0.1 per cent of people who take tests fail to fill in a registration card, after Downing Street was unable to confirm the extent of the problem.
Officials have been hunting for the individual, who is one of six people in the UK infected with the “variant of concern” from Brazil, but the only one who provided no information about themselves.
Mr Hancock told the House of Commons a third vaccine dose may be needed over the autumn to protect against new variants of the disease.
He said: “We know for sure that we seek to vaccinate with two doses every adult in the UK – there may well be a need for a third vaccination over the autumn against variants and there is currently a clinical trial considering the vaccination of under-18s.”
