By Charlotte Webster-
The number of people with COVID in the UK rose to around 1 in 21 last week, or 3.28 million people, the latest ONS figures show.
In England, around one in 20 in private households are believed to have had the virus in the week to 12 March – or 2.7 million people.
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The figure was up from 1 in 25, or 2.1 million people, recorded for the previous week to 5 March.
According to ONS statistics, all age groups have been affected, including the 75s and over, who are due a spring booster jab to top up protection. Hospital cases are also reportedly rising, but vaccines are believed to be helping to stop many severe cases.
Covid restrictions in the UK were completely lifted during the height of the partygate scandal, especially after it was revealed that hospitals in the UK had exaggerated the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19. Many hospitals in the UK were found to have added to statistics patients who had tested positive for the virus, but had been admitted for other illnesses.
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According to experts, an easily spread sub-variant of Omicron, called BA.2, is now causing most cases. Recent easing of restrictions and waning immunity from the vaccines could be factors behind the rise too. The ONS infection survey, which tests thousands of people randomly in households across the UK, estimates that 3.3 million people would have tested positive in the week ending 12 March – up from 2.6 million the previous.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid admitted there has been a ‘modest rise’ in COVID cases. The ONS said hospital admissions for children under the age of 15 were more than double the peak recorded in the week ending 17 January last year.
Professor James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, said the figures show evidence of a “sharp uptick” in COVID cases.
An ONS survey in the UK shows that most people are still taking precautions against Covid.
The UK continues to lift previous Covid restrictions, and tests on arrivals in the Uk are no longer necessary, regardless of whether people have been vaccinated or not.
It is part of the government’s Living with Covid strategy that relies on personal responsibility and mass vaccination to protect the public, rather than laws and limits on what people are allowed to do.
Scotland’s rules on face coverings in shops and on public transport will, however, remain in place until April due to the rise in Covid. He said: “Prevalence is increasing in every area and across age groups. Without vaccines, this would be bleak for the country”
Some of the rise in cases is believed to be due to coronavirus restrictions being rolled back. The more relaxed behaviour is considered to be giving the virus more opportunities to spread but probably more importantly, the dominant virus is changing. And that’s the key driver of the rise in infections.
Prof James Naismith, Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, and Professor of Structural Biology, University of Oxford, said the high infection rates around the UK currently, with few Covid restrictions, meant that almost anyone could catch the virus.
He said: “My main concern is for the vulnerable for whom this disease is serious.
“Every effort must be made to triple vaccinate as many people as possible, quadruple vaccinate the most vulnerable.”
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