One in 24 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Bristol in the last week as cases of the virus creep up, according to Bristol City Council. The new statistics from the local authority show that coronavirus is spreading as last week one in 37 reported having the virus, despite free tests no longer being available to the general public.
A weekly council report reveals that in the week up to June 6 a total of 4.2 per cent of people in Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset have had Covid-19. This compares to an English national average of 3.4 per cent.
And official Government statistics also show that covid-19 is continuing to spread, more than two years after the first lockdown in March 2020. An interactive map on the Government's website shows that in the seven days up to July 1 - the last time from which data is available - there were 1,490 Covid-19 cases in Bristol.
Read more: People urged to wear masks again amid fears Covid hospitalisations will hit 18-month high
This is 495 more than in the previous week, meaning the figure has risen by 48.3 per cent. It also means that 319.8 people had the virus in Bristol for every 100,00 people living in the city.
As of July 5, there were 104 people in hospital with Covid-19 across the city, and two of these were in intensive care. And according to Bristol City Council, four people have died with the coronavirus in the city in the last four weeks.
Currently, two new omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5, are making up most of the infections in the current wave. Both of them are more transmissible than BA.2, the previously dominant variant.
The evidence is still unclear on whether these variants are more or less severe than earlier forms of omicron, but the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has classified them as “variants of concern”.
It comes as people are being urged to consider wearing a face covering in crowded places again as there are concerns that the number of people hospitalised with the virus will hit an 18-month high.
Dame Dr Jenny Harries, who is chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said the latest increase was yet to peak. She predicted it was "quite likely" that hospitalisations will surpass the previous wave in the spring.
Read next:
Expert on what you need to do now as new wave of Covid starts
Covid vaccines found to work well no matter how much you weigh
-
Bristol church votes to allow same-sex weddings - making it the oldest Methodist church in the world to do so
- Revisit St Pauls Carnival with pictures showing four decades of the celebration
