Cases of covid infections across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are rising, and are said to be linked with Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. Independent SAGE scientist Professor Christina Pagel has warned there are four variants of Omicron "all increasing rapidly" at the moment, whereas the previous wave in March had two variants.
Data released on Thursday, June 16, showed the number of acute respiratory infection incidents (suspected outbreaks of the virus) had risen by almost 100 in a week going from 78 to 170 in week 23 (June 6-12). The hospital admission rate for week 23 was 6.10 per 100,000 population, an increase from 4.65 in the previous week, WalesOnline reports.
It comes as coronavirus infections in the UK have risen for the first time in two months, with a total of 1.4 million people in private households estimated to have had the virus last week, up 43 per cent from 989,800 the previous week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
