Andy Burnham calls for vaccine 'surge' to help contain Covid spread

Measures to try to halt the rise of the variant of coronavirus first identified in India will cover 10% of England's population, as Matt Hancock said there was a "challenging decision'' to be made over the further lifting of Covid restrictions later this month.

The Health Secretary announced on Tuesday that a "strengthened package of support'' will be provided for Greater Manchester and Lancashire, similar to that seen in Bolton, where case numbers remain high.

It means 5.7 million people are now under what mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham stressed was "not a lockdown'' but "advice''.

The help on offer includes military support with testing and supervised in-school testing, and greater communication with disadvantaged groups will be available.

Local directors of public health will also be able to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if they want to.

But Mr Burnham called on the Government to go further, and urged ministers to release vaccine supplies earlier than planned.

Speaking at a press conference, he said: "Obviously what we're seeing here is a localised approach to messaging, more localised support on testing and on tracing and isolation. We are also saying that also should apply to vaccination.

"We are not asking for any more vaccine here than our fair share, what we are asking for is the bringing forward of Greater Manchester's supplies, so that we can run a surge vaccination programme over the next three weeks.''

As part of Government recommendations, people in areas affected by a rise in the variant first identified in India, are being urged to meet outside rather than inside where possible, keep up social distancing and minimise travel in and out of affected regions.

The areas listed have been expanded and include Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan) and Lancashire (Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre).

Earlier Mr Hancock said: "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.''

But Mr Burnham said it was "very important to keep a sense of proportion''.

He said: "This is guidance, it is advice to the public. It is not a lockdown. It is not a ban... this is not about telling people to cancel their plans, it is about asking them to be careful in setting any new ones, to minimise non-essential travel.''

On Monday, Mr Hancock told the Commons that out of 12,383 cases of the Indian variant, 464 people went on to seek emergency care and 126 were admitted to hospital.

Of these, 83 people were unvaccinated, 28 had one dose of vaccine and just three had had both doses.