More Than a 30% rise has been seen in the United Kingdom Covid Cases
Covid infection levels in the UK have risen by more than 30% in a week, with an estimated 2.3 million people thought to have had the disease in late June.
The latest figures show that the number of people in the UK with COVID has risen by 32% to almost 2.3 million.
It is up from 1.7 million people the previous week and the highest estimate for total infections since late April.
Increases were also seen in the rest of the UK, with an estimated one in 18 people in Scotland, one in 30 in Wales, and one in 25 in Northern Ireland thought to have had Covid in the most recent week.
While still shy of the peak infection levels seen earlier this year, when about one in 13 people in England had Covid, the estimated number of infections in the UK is the highest since late April and the highest yet seen for a summer month.
But it is still below the record high of 4.9 million, which was reached at the end of March.
The Office for National Statistics said that omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 are likely behind the latest surge and are thought to be the most dominant strains in the UK.
More Than a 30% rise has been seen in the United Kingdom Covid Cases
According to ONS data, in the summer of 2020, the estimated percentage of the population testing positive in England remained below 0.1%, while in 2021, the highest summer figure reached in July was 1.57%. By contrast, the most recent figure is 3.35%.
Officials said the estimates reflected a rise in subvariants of Omicron, with BA.4 and BA.5, when taken together, now dominant in the UK.
“Across the UK we’ve seen a continued increase of over half a million infections, likely caused by the growth of BA.4 and BA.5 variants,” said Sarah Crofts, the head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey. “This rise is seen across all ages, countries and regions of England.”
Hospitalisations involving Covid are also rising. On 30 June, there were 8,928 patients with Covid in hospitals in England, up from 6,401 on the previous Thursday.
Data released by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Thursday showed ICU admission rates for Covid had increased slightly and were highest in London and the 75-84 age group.
The increase is also seen when looking only at those patients primarily being treated for Covid, with figures from NHS England showing a rise from 2,165 on 21 June to 2,877 on 28 June.
While still lower than figures during the winter and early spring, the data suggests the recent increase in hospital cases is not only being driven by people who are in hospital for another reason but also have Covid.
Dr Mary Ramsay, the director of clinical programmes at the UKHSA, said: “It’s reassuring that 83.5% of people aged 75 and over have had a vaccine in the past six months but we urge the remaining 16.5%, as well as those living in care homes or who are clinically vulnerable, to get their spring booster for protection against serious illness.
Vaccination remains the best defence against severe disease and hospitalisation.”
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