Experts are seeking to urgently test people in Southport for Covid-19 over concerns about the possible spread of the South African strain of the virus.
Mobile testing units are now being sent to Southport, and other areas affected.
Health officials said 11 people had been identified over the last five or six days who have tested positive for the variant, but who have no links to travel.
This suggests there may be small pockets of spread in local communities of the new variant, with the possibility of further cases.
Experts from Public Health England (PHE) are now hoping to break any chains of transmission. All but two areas involve single cases of the variant.
Mobile testing units are being sent into the affected areas of London, the West Midlands, East of England, South East and the North West.
The areas are: Southport, Merseyside; Hanwell, west London; Tottenham, north London; Mitcham, south London; Walsall in the West Midlands; Broxbourne, Hertfordshire; Maidstone, Kent; and Woking, Surrey.
People will be urged to agree to testing, whether they have symptoms or not.
The South African variant is thought to be as transmissible as the variant that was first identified in Kent but there is no evidence as yet that it causes more severe disease.
It is not yet known whether the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine will be effective against the variant, although other vaccines have shown promising results.
Experts advising the Government said they did not think the current vaccines would need to be tweaked to deal with any spread of the South African variant.
To date, 105 cases of the South African variant have been identified in the UK since December 22 but all of those had links to travel.
Experts believe the 11 new cases may also have second or third generation links to travel but detailed investigations have not identified any such links.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “It is vital that we do all we can to stop transmission of this variant and I strongly urge everyone in these areas to get tested, whether you have symptoms or not.
“The best way to stop the spread of the virus – including new variants – is to stay at home and follow the restrictions in place. Until more people are vaccinated this is the only way we will control the spread of the virus.
“The UK is a global leader in Covid-19 genomics and, because of this, we have been able to identify new strains of the virus and take decisive action.
“We continue to closely monitor new variants, here and around the world, and in addition to our already extensive testing service, we are making surge-testing capacity available to affected areas.”
Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic response director at PHE, said: “As part of our proactive sequencing work, we know that the new variant of Covid-19 first detected in South Africa has been identified in a number of areas across England.
“A small proportion of these cases have no link to international travel suggesting that there are some cases in the community.
“In response to this, we are ramping up testing in targeted areas, so we can gather more information and effectively monitor any further community transmission.”
It comes as Boris Johnson played down fears about vaccines being ineffective against different variants.
During a visit to the Al Hikmah vaccination centre in Batley, West Yorkshire, the Prime Minister told reporters: “We are confident that all the vaccines that we are using provide a high degree of immunity and protection against all variants.”
He said the vaccines could be adapted to deal with new variants if necessary.
“The fact is we are going to be living with Covid for a while to come in one way or another,” he added.
“I don’t think it will be as bad as the last 12 months – or anything like – of course, but it’s very, very important that our vaccines continue to develop and to adapt, and they will.”
Mr Johnson said there were signs the lockdown measures were working but it was too early to “take your foot off the throat of the beast” by easing restrictions.
“We are starting to see some signs of a flattening and maybe even a falling off of infection rates and hospitalisations,” he said.
“But don’t forget that they are still at a very high level by comparison with most points in the last 12 months, a really very high level.
“So the risk is if you take your foot off the throat of the beast, as it were, and you allow things to get out of control again then you could, alas, see the disease spreading again fast before we have got enough vaccines into people’s arms. That’s the risk.”
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