London, Europe Brief News – Covid infections in the UK jump by 32% in a week, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Weekly coronavirus figures show 2.3m infections in the week to 24 June, up from 1.7m the week before.
This is the highest estimate for total infections since late April. But the impact on hospitals remains limited.
One in 30 people in England and Wales, one in 25 in Ireland and one in 18 in Scotland have the virus.
Two sub-variants of Omicron – called BA.4 and BA.5 – are driving new infections in the UK and elsewhere.
People can catch the newer variants even if they have had coronavirus recently.
But vaccines are still offering strong protection against severe illness. The new variants are not more dangerous.
Sir Jonathan Van-Tam said that the Covid situation now “is much, much, much closer to seasonal flu.
Anyone over the age of 65, health and care staff, and adults aged 16-64 can receive Autumn booster shots, especially those vulnerable to severe Covid.
Meanwhile, another survey by the ONS suggests many people previously considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable to Covid and who were asked to shield at home earlier in the pandemic are continuing to take precautions to protect themselves.
And around one in 10 of the 1,036 people surveyed said they were still following the shielding advice.
More than half (59%) of respondents reported that the pandemic had a negative effect on them. 78% felt that it should be the law for those who test positive for Covid to self-isolate.
