Up to three quarters of all new coronavirus cases in England are the Indian variant, Matt Hancock has said.
The Health Secretary told a Downing Street press briefing this evening that cases of the Indian variant have almost doubled in a week from 3,535 to 6,959.
He said the number of coronavirus cases across the country was rising overall, with the highest number since April 12 being recorded on Thursday, with 3,542 new infections and 10 deaths confirmed.
Mr Hancock said: "The latest estimates are that more than half and potentially as many as three-quarters of all new cases are now of this variant.
"As we set out our road map we always expected cases to rise, we must remain vigilant.
"The aim, of course, is to break the link to hospitalisations and deaths so that cases alone no longer require stringent restrictions on people's lives."
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the increase in cases of the Indian variant remained focused in "hotspots" where surge testing and vaccinations were taking place.
He said: "The increase in cases remains focused in hotspots and we are doing all we can to tackle this variant wherever it flares up.
"Over the past six months we now have built a huge testing capacity at our disposal and we are using this to surge testing into the eight hotspot areas and other places where the cases are lower but rising.
"In the hotspot areas we are surging vaccines, too, for those who are eligible, in Bolton for instance we have done 17,147 vaccinations in the last week."
