LIVE: Matt Hancock holds Downing Street coronavirus press conference

He said in a tweet: “Seven in 10 adults in the UK have now had the first dose of the vaccine.

“It’s a monumental achievement and my thanks go to all the healthcare workers, Armed Forces personnel and volunteers who have made this incredible rollout possible.

“Please keep getting your jab when called.”

He says the surge testing “playbook” being used in the North West areas has worked in south London when tackling the South African variant.

The Cabinet minister said monitoring travel patterns and analysis of waste water in 70% of the country had helped identify where variants are and also where they are at risk of spreading to.

“We can spot the virus and variants in the water, and that can help us identify communities where there is spread,” he added, with new surge testing taking place as a result in places such as Bedford and Burnley.”

“I pitch this personally as a straight race between the transmissibility of this new variant… and vaccine delivery,” he says.

“The NHS is doing everything it can to turbo-boost that, and that is the challenge that’s ahead of us in the next two to three to four weeks, to make sure that we outrun the virus through really vigorous pull-through on vaccine delivery.”

“I think scientists are sure that this virus is more transmissible than the strain that it is beginning to replace, which is the old Kent B.117 strain,” he says.

“The million dollar question is how much more transmissible – we don’t have that yet.

“We have a credible range that goes from a few percent more transmissible through to 50% more transmissible – I think most people feel it is going to be somewhere in the middle… but it is just too early.

“The best estimate that I can give you is that the data will begin to firm up some time next week and I think next week will be the first time when we have a ranging shot at what the transmissibility increase is.

“And that will then feed into models that will help us understand how this looks in terms of the future prospects in terms of resurgent disease, and from there, ministers will be able to make further decisions.”

He adds the transmission of the new variant is “not inevitable” and it can be slowed down through “cautious behaviour”.

Almost four in ten have received two doses.

“We are throwing everything at it now,” he says.

There are 25 people in Bolton hospital, majority of whom are not vaccinated, and 90 per cent have not had both vaccines.

“When you get the call, get the jab,” he says.

Rates are rising in other areas and Govt needs to act fast.

Early evidence suggests the new Indian variant passes on more easily than the Kent variant but there is increasing confidence vaccines are effective against it.

This means it is even more important people get vaccinated.

Matt Hancock says deaths and hospitalisations remain low but we most proceed with vigilance and everyone taking personal responsibility.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs that surge testing and extra vaccine supplies were being deployed in a series of areas to control the spread of the highly-transmissible strain.

The latest figures came with the Government under fire over its inability to prevent the variant arriving in the UK, as Labour claimed the border has been “like a sieve” throughout the pandemic.

Mr Hancock said 2,967 cases of the B1617.2 variant had been identified, up from the 2,323 declared on Monday.

“The race between the virus and the vaccine has got a whole lot closer,” the Health Secretary said.

Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Bedford have been the main areas where worrying numbers of cases had been identified.

He will be joined by deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam and Dr Jenny Harries from the UK Health Security Agency at a Downing Street press conference at around 5pm.