More vaccine doses have been sent to Bolton, which has a particularly high rate of the Indian variant, while 800,000 PCR tests have been sent to 15 areas of England, including parts of London and Merseyside.

Bolton has the highest rate of any local area in England, with 553 new cases in the seven days to May 9 – the equivalent of 192.3 per 100,000 people.

This is up from 84.9 in the seven days to May 2.

The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme more vaccine doses have been sent to Bolton.

In Bolton mobile testing units have been deployed and door-to-door PCR testing has been offered to 22,000 residents, while a vaccine bus has been set up to increase uptake among those who are eligible and a rapid response team of 100 nurses, public health advisers and environmental health officers has been sent in.

Bolton Council leader David Greenhalgh has called for the town to be given the chance to vaccinate over-16s.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has also submitted a request to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation for all over-16s in Bolton, along with the rest of the Greater Manchester area, to receive a vaccination “to mitigate the risks of spread in those communities where we are seeing more transmission”.