The UK Government is being criticised for its handling of the India Covid-19 variant as cases begin to soar.

The Government is defending its decision not to ban travellers from India sooner, even though the South Asian country was recording more than 100,000 cases a day by April 5.

However, it was not added to the UK's 'red list' until April 23.

The Government assures they have some of the toughest border measures.

Correspondent Gavin Grey told Kate Hawkesby it was expected many cases from India would come into the country.

"Many were saying they were three weeks too late... either way, today the Government said 'look we do have cases of that variant, they are spiking'. Some say the number of cases of that Indian variant have tripled in just a week," he says.

"But they say it's relatively localised and the Government si flooding those localised areas with extra vaccines, and spot checks and spot testing."