Door-to-door testing for South African variant to start in Surrey after two people in Woking test positive for Covid despite not leaving country and having no links to previous cases
Residents in parts of Surrey will be offered coronavirus tests after two people tested positive for the South African variant despite having no travel links.
Health chiefs will carry out door-to-door testing in the Goldsworth Park and St Johns areas of Woking, regardless of whether people have symptoms or not.
The swabs will be done by Surrey Local Resilience Forum (SLRF), along with Public Health England and the Department of Health and Social Care.
Ruth Hutchinson, director of public health for Surrey, said: ‘This is a precautionary measure – the more cases of the variant we find, the better chance we have at stopping it from spreading further.
‘By playing your part and taking the test, you’ll be helping to keep your community and your loved ones safe.
‘It’s really important to say that there is currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness, so you don’t need to worry.’
Two people in Surrey have tested positive for the South African variant of coronavirus, despite having no links to travel or previous cases of the strain