C-19 infections continue to rise in most of UK

COVID-19 infections are continuing to rise across most of the UK, with levels in Scotland hitting another record high, new figures show.

In England and Wales the virus is now circulating at levels last seen at the start of February, though the trend in Northern Ireland is “uncertain”, with infections likely to have fallen slightly.

Across the UK as a whole, 3.3 million people were estimated to have coronavirus last week, up from 2.6 million the previous week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is still some way below levels at the start of the year, when 4.3 million people were likely to have had the virus.

But it is further evidence that Covid-19 is becoming more prevalent across most of the country, and comes as the number of people in hospital with the virus is rising.

Around one in 20 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to March 12, or 2.7 million people, the ONS said.

This is up from one in 25, or 2.1 million people, in the previous week and is the second week in a row that infections are estimated to have increased. The “rapid rise” of the BA.2 variant – a mutation of the Omicron variant – is driving the high levels of the virus, with BA.2 now accounting for a majority of infections across the country, the ONS said.

The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 is estimated to have jumped in all regions of England last week, with the highest prevalence in the South East (around one in 17 people), London (one in 18) and the South West (one in 19). Infections have also risen among all age groups in England, with children from age two to School Year 6 estimated to have the highest level (around one in 16), followed by adults aged 25 to 34 (one in 18).