People living in Lancashire and Greater Manchester have been told to "minimise travel" amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
Matt Hancock told the House of Commons this afternoon that surge testing is being extended in both regions in response to a rise in the Delta variant there.
Under the new rules, people are being advised to minimise travel in and out of the affected areas, abide by social distancing with people outside of their support bubble and meet others outdoors where possible.
There will be no change to the restrictions but residents will be asked to 'reconsider' travel that isn't essential.
The areas covered by the guidance were updated today to include the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan) and Lancashire County Council (Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre).
It comes after the same travel guidance was issued for people living in Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow, and North Tyneside, last month after the India variant started to surge.
The government has announced a "strengthened package of support" for the affected areas including extra testing, military support and supervised in-school testing.
Mr Hancock said: "I can tell the House that today, working with local authorities, we are providing a strengthened package of support based on what's happening in Bolton to help Greater Manchester and Lancashire tackle the rise in the Delta variant that we are seeing there.
"This includes rapid response teams, putting in extra testing, military support and supervised in-school testing.
"I want to encourage everyone in Manchester and Lancashire to get the tests on offer.
"We know that this approach can work, we've seen it work in south London and in Bolton in stopping a rise in the number of cases.
"This is the next stage of tackling the pandemic in Manchester and Lancashire and of course it's vital that people in these areas, as everywhere else, come forward and get the jab as soon as they are eligible because that is our way out of this pandemic together."
