The UK’s Covid outbreak has grown for the second week in a row but there are already signs the uptick is slowing.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows 1.3million people in England were infected in the week to June 18, up by a fifth compared to seven days earlier.
Cases are also on the rise in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where positive tests jumped by up to 40 per cent in a week.
Sequencing data shows the resurgence is being driven by Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5, which are thought to be even more infectious than earlier versions which saw cases reach pandemic highs in December and April.
Celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, half-term holidays and Caribbean-esque weather are also thought to be fuelling the latest surge. Some have also pointed to Britons mistaking Covid symptoms for hay fever.
But experts have confidence the upcoming wave will be no worse than other peaks seen this year. And they do not expect a sharp increase in hospitalisations.
NHS England data shows daily Covid admissions breached 1,000 this week for the first time in two months. But only a third of patients were primarily admitted because they were unwell due to the virus.
Speaking this morning before the latest figures were released, Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s former deputy chief medical officer, said there is ‘nothing alarmist’ in the rise.
The prevalence of the Omicron subvariants has nearly doubled every week, according to data from the Sanger Institute — one of the UK’s largest Covid surveillance centres. The strains’ combined 57.4 per cent share of infections in the week to June 11 is up from 41.7 per cent in the week to June 4, 21.2 per cent in the week to May 28 and 11 per cent in the week to May 21. Dominant strain BA.2, which was behind nearly all cases when infections hit a record high in March, now accounts for just 41.7 per cent of cases
While Covid admissions have risen in the past week they are still well behind figures from just a few months ago
The recently knighted Sir Jonathan said Britons need to make their own mind up about if a situation warranted wearing a mask (pictured wearing a mask in November last year)
Kara Steel, senior statistician for the Covid infection survey, said: ‘Rates have continued to rise across the UK, with the largest increase seen in Scotland.
‘In England, infections increased across all age groups, with the lowest level of infection seen in school aged children.
‘These increases are largely driven by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants. We will continue to closely monitor the data.’
It comes as Sir Jonathan dismissed hysteria that the uptick in cases marks a new wave of the pandemic, saying Britain has to learn to live the virus.
Speaking about the ONS figures for last week, which showed a 40 per cent jump in cases, the newly-knighted scientist said there was ‘nothing alarmist’ about the rise.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘It is an uptick but it is really very small still in relation to the kind of peaks that we saw in January and April.
‘The hospitalisation signal most importantly is very small indeed. At the moment there is nothing alarmist in these figures.’
Members of Independent SAGE, a pressure group that previously called for a zero-Covid policy, last week called for a return to wearing masks indoors and meeting outdoors in response to rising Covid rates.
But Sir Jonathan said hospitalisation, intensive care admissions and deaths are the true metric of whether Covid warrants further concern.
NHS England figures show daily Covid hospital admissions in England surpassed 1,000 for the first time in two months this week.
And there are around 6,000 Covid inpatients now compared to 16,000 at the April peak.
Sir Jonathan said: ‘The data still show that although when cases go up hospitalisations go up the proportion of people requiring hospitalisation is way, way, way lower than when Covid first appeared on the scene.
‘That is because of vaccination and to a smaller extent acquired immunity as we’ve caught Covid in the interim.’
Sir Jonathan, who is now pro-vice-chancellor for medicine and health sciences at the University of Nottingham, added that the country had to learn to live with the virus similar to the other winter bugs it now resembled.
He said: ‘We just accept that in the winter that if you’ve got seasonal flu and you’re poorly for a few days it disrupts your life.
‘We’ve got to start frame Covid a little more in those terms to be truthful.’
As well as the rise of Omicron sub-variants and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the uptick in caess has also been pinned on people wrongly assuming they have hay fever when they actually have Covid.
Coughing, sneezing and a runny nose are now all tell-tale signs of the coronavirus, which has become milder as the pandemic has worn on.
But they are also symptoms which plague the lives of millions of hay fever sufferers when pollen levels begin to shoot upwards, like they have over the past fortnight.
The recent spike in Covid cases prompted the NHS to urge eligible Britons to come forward for their Spring booster.
Health chiefs have asked a million eligible older Britons to get their fourth dose this month, so they have the necessary time between jabs ahead of an autumn booster.
Multiple experts have warned cases of the virus — which many believe is morphing into another cause of the common cold — will continue to periodically flare-up.
Meanwhile, hospital admissions for Covid have started to increase, piling extra pressure on an already overwhelmed NHS.
Government data shows the number of admissions rose 24 per cent over the last week.
On average around 900 Brits are being admitted and testing positive each day.
The number of ventilator beds occupied with infected patients has remained reactively stable at under 200, about 23 times lower than the levels seen during the darkest days of the pandemic.
Sir Jonathan, 57, announced his departure from public office in January this year during the height of Boris Johnson’s ‘partygate’ scandal, returning to academic work at the University of Nottingham in May
He was knighted for his service to the nation during the pandemic but ironically had to miss the ceremony last month after testing positive for the virus.
A straight-talking voice of calm, JVT shot to fame in the early stages of the pandemic for his use of football-related metaphors to explain complex science.
He has fronted many Downing Street press conferences, attracting a legion of fans who have bought T-shirts with his face and phrases emblazoned across the front.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk