The elderly are driving a worrying surge in Covid-19 infections with many still not having had an autumn booster.
The Office for National Statistics found that the current coronavirus wave is being driven by over-70s unlike earlier waves which started in the young.
Latest swab testing data shows rising infections in England are behind the recent spike with an estimated 1.3 million people in the UK having the virus in the week up to September 24.
Next week NHS England will send booster jab invites as emails, letters and texts to six million eligible people who are either clinically at risk from Covid or aged over 75.
All over-50s will be able to get a jab but so far only 6.6 million of the 26 million eligible have had it.
Sarah Crofts, director of the COVID-19 Infection Survey, said: “Infections have continued to increase in England, reaching levels last seen in Mid-August.
“The rest of the UK is a mixed picture, with uncertain trends in Wales and Scotland and a recent increase in Northern Ireland.
“Amongst the over 70s there has been a marked increase in infections in England this week a trend which we will closely monitor as the winter months progress.”
Surging Covid-19 infections in recent weeks have meant the ONS swab testing survey has struggled to keep up. Other survey research suggests many more than 1.3 million Brits now have the virus.
Experts are worried that now enough over-70s have had their autumn Covid booster with case rates highest in this group.
The ONS estimates one in every 40 people aged over-70s had the virus in its latest weekly survey and infections were rising in all age groups over 35.
Among all age groups one in 50 people in England had Covid, up by a quarter on the previous week.
Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England medical director, said: “The threat of a Covid-19 and flu season creating a ‘twindemic’ this winter is real, as infections levels continue to rise and the number of people in hospital with covid climbing by more than a third in just over a month across England.
“Thanks to the hard work of NHS staff and volunteers we have already delivered more than five million doses in four weeks with hundreds of thousands of people booking their vaccine every day, but we know that there are still millions of people who have yet to take up the offer.”
NHS England said people with conditions that place them at additional risk from Covid-19 can “self-declare”.
This means they do not need to wait for an NHS invite and can attend a walk-in site or book a booster online or by calling 119.
The UKHSA identified a number of new Covid-19 variants circulating in the country.
All of them are currently at low levels but some are believed to have a degree of “immune escape” meaning our immune systems can no longer recognise or fight this type of coronavirus.
Three of the variants show evidence of a “growth advantage” compared to Omicron BA.5, which is currently the dominant variant in the UK.
These are all subtypes of Omicron and have been named BA.2.75.X, BF.7 and BQ.X.
It is possible that the new variants are fuelling the current rise in infections, but “it is likely that other factors are contributing”, the UKHSA added.
