3.5 MILLION PEOPLE IN ENGLAND HAD COVID LAST WEEK AS CASES ROSE BY 31%

Sat 26 March 2022:

Official data shows that 3.5 million people in England were infected with Covid last week, the second highest level ever, and No10’s scientific advisers are now calling for stronger restrictions.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 3.48 million persons were infected with the virus at any given time in the week ending March 19, which represents a 31% increase over the previous week.

Covid levels have risen by nearly one million in a week, approaching the peak of the Omicron wave, when a record 3.74 million people in England were infected with the virus in the first week of January – one in every 14.

In every corner of the UK, the infections are rising. In Scotland, they have already surpassed the previous peak. Now, one in 11 Scots seems to have been infected in the recent week, the ONS said.

Hospitalisations are also high in Scotland and are currently rising in England.

SAGE member Professor Matt Keeling said, “With the withdrawal of free testing from April 1, this ability of the public to assess and respond to the risk of infection has been removed. Lateral flow tests are relatively inexpensive, and could even be cost saving if they help prevent sufficiently many hospital admissions.”

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser, UK Health Security Agency, asked citizens to wear masks in enclosed spaces.

Experts claim ditching all Covid restrictions — including the need to self-isolate after testing positive — in England just and the rapidly spreading BA.2 variant is leading to unprecedented levels of infections. However, hospitalisations are not increasing as quickly as cases, suggesting vaccines may be preventing infections becoming as serious as in previous waves.

Northern Ireland followed the same course as England with ditching restrictions, with Wales only today announcing it will scrap mask-wearing and self-isolation next Monday. Face coverings are still mandatory on public transport in Scotland.

The ONS data showed around one in 16 people in private households are estimated to have had the virus in England — up from one in 20, or 2.7 million people, in the week to March 12.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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