Waning vaccination strength is one of the main reasons Covid-19 is spreading again, a world-leading immunologist has said.
Professor Denis Kinane, Immunologist and Founding Scientist of Cignpost Diagnostics, said Covid cases are higher now compared to the same time last year as he warns the variants are masking themselves which makes them more transmissible.
Figures from the Office for National statistics say a total of 2.3million were estimated to have the virus last week, compared to 1.7million from the previous week - a jump of 32 per cent.
Prof Kinane told The Mirror: "There are two reasons for the current rise, the first one is the current variants spreading through immune escape and the other reason is vaccinations.
"Most of us had our boosters in December and January and really the life of the vaccine drops at about three months, and by six months it really needs to be boosted.
"Immune escape is when the virus is mutating all the time is typical tries to mutate into a form that is highly transmissible to try and invade the immune system.
"The surface of the virus changes so the body doesn't recognise it."
He added: "I'm worried about the rise because it's in the summer and it normally happens in the autumn.
"What we are seeing is a vaccination program that is geared to earlier variants of Omicron so they are not as effective against subvariants.
"Any of the vaccinations are particularly behind the times because we don't know what's coming down the hill."
Covid-19 cases have surged again to 300,000 new infections per day - with one in 21 Brits symptomatic with the virus.
The recent increases in the UK are primarily due to a subvariant of Omicron. The BA.5 variant is now dominant in the UK.
The variant in question is thought to have caused an increase in reinfections despite vaccine take-up and natural immunity.
Amid the Covid resurgence, the R-value for the UK is estimated to be around 1.1 as case rates soar - meaning every 10 infected people pass it to 11 people on average.
According to the latest figures from the ZOE Covid Study, there are currently 285,507 new symptomatic cases every day in the UK on average.
This is up over a quarter from the 225,464 reported last week and paints a worrying picture.
The Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 going around are more contagious and this factor coupled with waning vaccine immunity causes the spread.
It isn't clear if the sub-variants cause any more severe disease, but there has been an increase in people hospitalised with Covid.
It calls into question how powerful the vaccine is months after the first booster was rolled out.
A second booster was released but is only available for those aged 75 years or older, or for those aged 12 or over who have a weakened immune system.
Those who are eligible for the Spring Booster have been urged to get theirs before the NHS rolls out the Autumn Booster.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said another booster should be offered to residents in a care home for older adults and staff, frontline health and social care workers all those 65 years of age and over, and adults aged 16 to 64 years who are in a clinical risk group.
As of now, there are no plans to give everyone else a booster.
Prof Kinane said we've let our guard down on Covid as he warns autumn will see cases soar.
He added: "We are also not testing anymore, and there will be a lot of people who are asymptomatic and are going out.
"That couples with the Jubilee weekend, Glastonbury, Wimbledon and other big events there is more opportunity for this to spread."
"We've let our guard down a little bit. We've stopped wearing masks and we are not as worried about ventilation as we should be.
"And the other thing is people think they have the flu and are going out when they have Covid.
"It's not just the waning of vaccination but it's also the relaxation of safeguards.
"We are expecting autumn to be worse. We always think that summer is easy but when you see a big rise in the summer it's a bit worrying.
"And it is currently winter in the southern hemisphere and they are also going through a high wave. So if there is a new variant coming from the southern hemisphere it could hit us in Autumn."
"We need to be wearing masks in closed spaces, keeping our distance and making sure our vaccinations are up to date.
"Let's remember what we learned from the height of Covid, people are still dying."
Infections are still some way below the record high of 4.9 million seen at the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave at the end of March.
The virus remains most prevalent in Scotland, where 288,200 people were estimated to have had Covid-19 last week, or one in 18.
This is up week-on-week from 250,700, or one in 20, and is the highest estimate for Scotland since early April.
In England, 1.8 million people were likely to have had the virus last week, the equivalent of around one in 30.
This is up from 1.4 million, or one in 40, the previous week.
Wales has seen infections jump to 106,000, or one in 30, up from 68,500, or one in 45.
In Northern Ireland, infections have increased to an estimated 71,000 people, or one in 25, up from 59,900, or one in 30.
Sarah Crofts, ONS head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: “Across the UK we’ve seen a continued increase of over half a million infections, likely caused by the growth of BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
“This rise is seen across all ages, countries and regions of England.
“We will continue to monitor the data closely to see if this growth continues in the coming weeks.”
