Cases of coronavirus have increased markedly in Wales and across the rest of the UK at the same time as Covid hospitalisations are also starting to rise in Wales. The figures have been published on Friday, June 17, by the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS said that Covid cases in all parts of the UK had risen in the last week driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants but that it was too soon to say if it is a new wave. A total of 1.4 million people in private households in the UK are estimated to have had the virus last week, up 43% from 989,800 the previous week.
The figures for Wales released on Friday (June 17), show that 64,800 of people had coronavirus - which equates to 2.13% of the population, or 1 in 45 people. That compares to 40,500 people had the virus in Wales for the week ending June 2 - equating to 1.33% of the population, or around one in 75 people. Read more about those figures here.
Read more: The latest official list of Covid symptoms from the NHS and Zoe Covid Study app
Other data is also showing a rise in cases. The results of lateral flow tests, which are still being provided in Wales for people with symptoms, and from the smaller number of PCR tests taken in hospitals and other healthcare settings show that there were 6,247 positive cases in the last week up to June 11. That's equivalent to an infection rate of 197 cases for every 100,000 people in the last week and is up from an infection rate of 104 a week earlier on June 4.
The latest UK figures from the ONS, which are up to week ending June 11, show that 1,131,000 people had Covid-19 in England, which is around 1 in 50, or 2.07% of the population. That is up from 1.46% of the population or around 1 in 70 people.
Cases are also up in Scotland where an estimated 176,900 people - 3.36% of the population or 1 in 30 - and Northern Ireland where 1 in 45, or 2.34% of the population have coronavirus.
There has been a significant percentage rise in hospital cases in Wales although the total figures remain low compared to at other points in the pandemic. There were 171 patients confirmed to have Covid-19 in acute hospitals in Wales on June 16, compared to 124 on June 8. The number of those patients who were being treated for coronavirus as opposed to being in hospital for another reason while having Covid has risen from 13 to 24.
Data shows the Covid surge is being driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariant of Omicron which are thought to be even more infectious than the parent strain. BA.4 and BA.5 are newer strains of coronavirus that were recently classified as "variants of concern", after analysis found both were likely to have a "growth advantage" over BA.2.
Total infections are now back at levels last seen at the start of May, but remain well below the record 4.9 million at the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave at the end of March. The period of time covered by the latest stats include when millions gathered to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee up and down the UK between June 2 and 5.
Earlier on Friday, Wales' chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton said that it was likely the country is heading into another wave of coronavirus, but he is "hopeful" draconian restrictions will not need to be imposed
He told BBC Radio Wales on Friday: "That tide seems to have turned as it has many times. There are new sub variants of the Omicron lineage which we're seeing across Europe in places like Portugal.
"We have seen a slight increase recently in the NHS with people coming in for treatment with coronavirus. Having said that I'm still optimistic that the vaccine programme and the vaccines which have been so successful will help to have weakened the link between community transmission and the direct harms." Read the full interview here.
Meanwhile, Kara Steel, senior statistician for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: "Infections have increased across all four UK nations, driven by rising numbers of people infected with the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants.
"It remains too early to say if this is the start of another wave, but we continue to monitor the data very closely."
