Around 25% of homes on Aylesbury estate where Indian Covid variant was confirmed have not come forward for testing

Over 900 tests were distributed over the weekend in Kingsbrook

Buckinghamshire Council have now given out more than 900 PCR tests to help people stop the spread of the Indian variant.

A number of mobile testing stations were set up in the area on the 13/14 May.

You can read about that here.This is roughly 75% of the population of the Kingsbrook area

The Indian Variant is threatening to disrupt the lockdown road map, say officials from SAGE, because of its high transmissibility.

This strain of the virus, called B1617.2, is becoming more prevalent in the UK as it has been reported that cases of this strain have more than tripled in a week.

There had been a small outbreak of Indian Variant cases at Buckinghamshire University earlier this month prior to the outbreak in Kingsbrook.

The BBC have reported over the weekend that 20 cases of the variant have been discovered.

Dr Jane O’Grady, director of public health in Buckinghamshire, said: “Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time out to do their tests.

“All positive COVID-19 tests from our targeted testing in the Kingsbrook area will be sent for genomic sequencing as this is needed to see whether anyone has a variant of concern.

“This will help us to understand the spread of the variant locally.

“People who test positive will be contacted by NHS test and trace in the normal way within a few days of the test.”

She added: “Anyone with a positive test must self-isolate for 10 days following their notification, along with their whole household. All the positive tests will undergo genomic sequencing to see if they have a variant of concern.

“Anyone whose test result shows they have a variant of concern will be contacted by Public Health England in order to carry out enhanced contact tracing.

“At the moment, genomic sequencing is taking a few weeks so people may not hear until after that.

“The most important thing is that people continue to follow the guidance that is in place – wash your hands regularly and thoroughly, keep your distance from people you do not live with, wear a face covering and get tested with rapid lateral flow tests twice a week.

“Please remember meeting outdoors is much safer than meeting indoors but if you do need to meet indoors try to ensure the room is well ventilated – open windows and doors where possible. If you test positive by any method, you must isolate to stop the spread of the virus.”