Soldiers on the streets of Bolton to help curb the spread of the Indian coronavirus variant

Troops from the 1st Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery have been pounding the pavement encouraging locals to get tested and vaccinated.

They have been deployed to help local leaders implementing surge testing in the town after vaccination clinics were extended in the area.

Bolton has the highest number of cases of the Indian variant in the UK after cases in the town surged by 158 per cent last week.

But enhanced testing and vaccinating in hotspot areas were deemed successful.

Now, the scheme has been rolled out across the town and soldiers were seen going door-to-door distributing leaflets.

Bolton Council’s director of public health, Dr Helen Lowey, said: “It has been a challenging two weeks as Bolton responds to a substantial rise in the local infection rate but we know the community is more than equal to the challenge.

“I want to thank the residents of Deane, Rumworth and Great Lever for their fantastic response and engagement with both testing and the vaccine.

“We now want to roll this out to other areas, so people can protect themselves by getting the vaccine and protect others by taking a test and isolate if positive."

Dr Helen Wall, senior responsible officer for the vaccination programme in Bolton said: “We’ve had a fantastic response to our targeted vaccination work in the BL3 and BL4 areas, and this will continue for as long as is necessary.

“To complement the testing programme in the BL1 area, we will step up vaccination sites accordingly, which we will announce soon.

“A massive thank you to everyone working hard on the ground and behind the scenes to make this happen.

“We must keep the pressure on this virus and tackle it together.”

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