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Reuters
Reuters
Health

UK to push surge testing after finding South African variants

FILE PHOTO: A student of St Andrews university attends testing of a lateral flow antigen test facility, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in St Andrews, Scotland, Britain, November 27, 2020. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo

Britain will step up mass testing in a number of areas across the country, including London, after it found an increasing number of novel coronavirus cases linked to the South African variant.

The health ministry said it urged every person over the age of 16 in parts of London, the central, eastern, southeast and northwest England to get a test this week regardless of whether they are showing symptoms.

It said Public Health England had identified 105 cases of the Covid-19 variant first identified in South Africa since Dec. 22. All cases and contacts have been reached.

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden)

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