UK reports nearly 3,000 cases of India-related variant

Almost 3,000 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in India have been reported in Britain, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday.

Speaking at the House of Commons, lower house of the British Parliament, Hancock said 2,967 cases of the variant have now been recorded, 28 percent up from the figure of more than 2,300 on Monday.

Surge testing and vaccinations will be deployed in those areas including Bedford, Burnley, Hounslow, Kirklees, Leicester and North Tyneside, said Hancock.

The Scottish government is also taking similar steps in Glasgow and Moray.

"What this means in practice is we are putting in place more testing and more testing sites," Hancock said.

"On vaccinations, we are making more vaccinations available to everyone who is eligible."

The spread of the India-related variant has raised concerns that England's final step of the roadmap out of COVID-19 restrictions might be delayed on June 21.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told lawmakers earlier Wednesday that there is "increasing confidence" that the current vaccines will be effective against all variants of the virus, including the India-related variant.

From Monday, pubs, bars and restaurants in England were permitted to open indoors, while indoor entertainment resumed, including cinemas, museums and children's play areas.

Millions in England were allowed to meet outdoors in groups of up to 30 people, and meet indoors in groups of up to six or as two households.

Meanwhile, all remaining accommodation including hotels, hostels and B&Bs can reopen from Monday.

People were also allowed to travel abroad to a number of green-list countries without having to quarantine upon return as the ban on foreign travel has also been lifted.

The British government's roadmap is expected to see all legal limits on social contact to be removed on June 21.

Experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is "still not out of the woods" amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of the pandemic on the European continent.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.