Rising Covid cases could be linked to the long bank holiday weekend for the Queen's jubilee, an expert has said. And the surge in infections may last until the autumn.
There had been a jump in infections compatible with the original Omicron variant BA.1, along with the newer variants BA.4 and BA.5. A total of 989,800 people in private households in the UK are estimated to have had the virus in the week ending June 2, up from 953,900 the previous week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Initial findings suggest BA.4 and BA.5 have a degree of “immune escape”, meaning the immune system can no longer recognise or fight a virus, which is likely to contribute to their growth advantage over BA.2, the UK Health Security Agency has said.
