More and more people appear to be wearing masks in public in a stark flashback to the height of the Covid-19 pandemic amid rising case rates.
Shoppers and commuters up and down the country have been spotted wearing face masks as they visit supermarkets, travel on trains and browse high streets, although many are still opting not to wear a mask.
It comes as the number of people in hospital in England who have tested positive for Covid-19 currently stands at 13,741, up 20 per cent week-on-week and close to the peak reached during the Omicron BA.2 wave in the spring.
Despite this, patient levels remain well below those seen during the pre-vaccine waves in both 2020 and early 2021.
It's also worth noting that around six in 10 patients who test positive for Covid-19 are being treated primarily for something else rather than the virus, but still need to be kept isolated from other patients, placing further demands on hospital staff and resources.
A number of GP surgeries and hospitals across the country, including places like Cornwall, Nottinghamshire and Essex are telling patients to wear face masks again.
Staff absences at NHS hospitals in England due to coronavirus have also jumped to their highest level for nearly three months, putting further pressure on health teams struggling to clear a record backlog of treatment, new figures show.
An average of 22,918 hospital staff in England were absent each day in the week to July 6, either because they were sick with Covid-19 or were self-isolating.
This is up 30 per cent on the previous week, and is the highest since 23,813 absences in the week to April 20.
The figure is still below the level reached at the peak of the first Omicron wave of infections in early January, when absences due to Covid-19 averaged nearly 54,000.
Meanwhile, scientists from a recent study have warned to look out for a sore throat, blocked nose and dry cough as the three primary symptoms of the current wave.
Fully vaccinated people are still catching Covid because multiple variants, Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, are in circulation at the same time, they added.
However, they do say that daily cases are starting to drop slightly but it is important to stay vigilant.
Professor Tim Spector, ZOE Scientific Co-Founder and lead scientist on the ZOE Health Study, said: “Covid is still rampant in the population. ZOE Health Study data shows that there were over 350,000 daily Covid cases this week- a new record for the UK.
"So much so, that if you have any cold-like symptoms at the moment it’s nearly twice as likely to be Covid as a cold.
"Even if people have had a past infection and are fully vaccinated, people are still catching it."
