UK: CORONAVIRUS CASES ROSE BY 40% IN SEVEN DAYS, ACCORDING TO ONS DATA

Tue 21 June 2022:

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), coronavirus infections are now affecting one in every 50 people in the United Kingdom.

According to a live review of the latest statistics and trends from the ONS, coronavirus infections have increased by 40% in seven days, with experts warning that the virus’s reappearance might cause travel havoc and hospital disruption.

Infections from Omicron types BA.4 and BA.5 are likely to blame for the recent rise, which was seen in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.

It comes after the first peer-reviewed study of its kind from the United Kingdom showed that the Omicron variant of coronavirus is less likely to cause long COVID than previous variants.

With scientists saying they were able to dodge antibodies from earlier infection, the two subvariants of the highly contagious Covid-19 strain have spread recently, according to a report from UK’s Health Security Agency released last week.

It had said that “Although the number of total genomes is small, the apparent geographic spread suggests that the variant is transmitting successfully.”

Omicron sub-variant BA.4 and BA.5, which were first detected in South Africa, represent nearly 90 per cent of new COVID-19 infections in Portual, according to public health institute’s Ricardo Jorge.

The World Health Organization has started tracking BA.4 and BA.5 because they have novel mutations “that need to be further studied to understand their impact on immune escape potential.” according to Reuters.

Both subvariants, according to a WHO report, feature extra mutations in the spike area, a section of the virus used to enter human cells, as well as unique mutations outside of that region.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent