Covid-19 infection levels in UK reach new highs, with nearly 5 million infected
Key Takeaways:
- The prevalence of Covid-19 in the UK has reached an all-time high, according to the most recent figures from the UK's official statistics agency.
- Although the number of people dying from Covid-19 is still low compared to earlier this year, hospitalizations and death rates are on the rise once more.
- More than 67 percent of people aged 12 and up in the United Kingdom have been vaccinated and have received their booster or third dose of coronavirus vaccine.
As per the most current figures from the UK's official statistics agency, the pervasiveness of Covid-19 in the UK has got an all-time high, with about one in every thirteen people infected in the last week.
The coronavirus infected 4.9 million people in the week ending In march 26, up from 4.3 million the week earlier, as per the Office for National Statistics. The recent spike is due to the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2, the most common in the UK.
The digit of people dying from Covid-19 is still relatively low compared to earlier this year, but hospitalizations and death rates are rising again. Nonetheless, the latest estimates indicate that the sharp increase in new infections that began in late February, when British PM Boris Johnson removed all remaining coronavirus limitations in England, has continued well into March.
The count has released on the same day that the government announced that most people in England would no longer be able to get free rapid COVID-19 tests as part of Johnson's "living with COVID" plan. People who do not have a health condition that makes them more susceptible to the virus must now pay for tests to determine whether or not they are infected.
"The government's 'living with Covid' strategy of removing any mitigations, isolation, free testing, as well as a significant portion of our surveillance amounts to nothing further than ignoring this virus going forward," said Stephen Griffin, associate professor of medical school at the University of Leeds.
"Unchecked prevalence puts our vaccines' protection jeopardy," he said. "Our vaccines are excellent, but they aren't silver bullets, and they shouldn't be left to deal with Covid alone."
In the United Kingdom, more than 67 percent of people aged 12 and up have been vaccinated and have received their booster or third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Parents can now book a low-dose vaccine for their children aged 5 to 12 years old starting on Saturday in England.
Except for those who are completely immune or not susceptible to the virus, James Naismith, a biology professor at the University of Oxford, believes that most people in the country will be infected with the BA.2 variant by the summer.
"By being infected with the virus, you're living with it," he explained.