Surge testing underway in Blackburn to combat Indian variant
The town has seen a recent spike in cases.
Health teams are out surge testing in Blackburn, as well as other parts of the North West, where cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in India are on the rise.
The so-called "variant of concern" has been found in Blackburn, as well as in Bolton (Greater Manchester) and Sefton (Merseyside). All three areas have seen infection rates rise sharply.
On Thursday, Blackburn with Darwen Council initially said that it would be offering vaccines to all over-18s from next week following an increase in cases, but later backtracked, by saying that although additional vaccine clinics are being set up, the jab will only be offered to those already eligible under current government guidance.
Professor Dominic Harrison, Blackburn with Darwen's director of public health, said on Twitter that the authority had asked the NHS to "surge vaccinate" but the request was refused.
Blackburn with Darwen's public health director Tweeted:
"At the moment the Indian variant is surging in a small number of #localgov areas.
"These areas have a window of opportunity to control the wider spread across the UK by a mixture of community engagement, surge testing and surge vaccination.
"If the Government stops areas with high #IndianVariant cases from 'surge vaccinating' target areas (which will contribute to reduced transmission) - it will reduce our local capacity to control spread.''