2.3m now have Covid as cases surge 32% in a week
COVID infections have increased by a third in a week as more transmissible variants drive up cases and hospital admissions.
Around 2.3million people now have the virus, up by 600,000 or 32 per cent in a week – the highest number of infections since late April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The surge is being driven by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which are more infectious and better at evading current vaccines. However, the figure remains below the record high of 4.9million seen at the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave at the end of March.
The rise in cases is already affecting hospitals, with infected patients now occupying 8,928 beds in England – up 39 per cent in a week. There are also signs of a rise in intensive care admissions among the elderly, and care home outbreaks.
Boris Johnson yesterday refused to rule out Covid restrictions in the face of the mounting wave. The Prime Minister told LBC: ‘I think that we see no reason for that at the moment and the most important thing is vaccination.’
Mr Johnson suggested a sharp spike in hospitalisations could be the trigger point. Around six
‘Rates will continue to rise’
in ten hospital patients with Covid are being treated primarily for something else, rather than the virus – though the need for them to be isolated puts pressure on hospital staff.
The virus remains most prevalent in Scotland, where 288,200 people were estimated to have had Covid last week, equivalent to one in 18. In England, 1.8million people were likely to have had the virus last week, equal to one in 30. This is up from 1.4million, or one in 40, the previous week.
Around one in 45 were infected in Wales and one in 25 in Northern Ireland.
Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the Zoe Covid app, said the BA.5 variant ‘is particularly good at immune escape, causing an increase in reinfections in people in spite of vaccines and natural immunity’. He added: ‘With the large numbers of festivals happening, I predict rates will continue to rise for the next week or so.
‘The only good news is that the symptoms are still mild, with fewer deaths than in other, earlier waves.’ Around one in six people aged 75 and over have not had a vaccine within the past six months, the UK Health Security Agency said.
All over-75s have been offered a ‘spring booster’, available three months after their last jab.