The UK could see a surge in Covid cases as schools return this week due to the rapid spread of the JN.1 variant, an expert has warned.
Sir Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the University of Oxford, said the virus was an “extra burden” on the NHS as it grapples with strikes and rising flu cases.
While the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show that Covid cases declined slightly in the week up to December 31, Prof Pollard told the Mirror that we “always see a drop in cases over holiday periods”.
He said: “It’s actually about what’s going to happen next as children go back to school on Monday, and most people have taken time off over New Year and are starting to go back to work. There is likely to be a rise in infections in the population over the course of the next week.”
The JN.1 variant currently makes up more than half (51.4%) of all cases spreading in the UK, according to the UKHSA.
Prof Pollard said of the variant: “I see this as one that is likely to spread extremely well in the population but there is that positive news that it might have been on the way down in the last data.
“There’s no real evidence that it’s much worse than any of the previous variants in terms of hospitalisations and deaths. But because it is spreading more, it is adding to those pressures on the NHS.”
Separate figures showed that the number of patients in hospital with flu in London has risen by 44% in a week.
NHS statistics showed that a total of 331 beds were occupied by flu patients in the capital on December 30, the highest figure reported so far this winter.
It is a rise of 44% on the figure recorded on December 23, and up by 97% in a fortnight.
Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classified the JN.1 Covid strain as a “variant of interest” but said it carried no greater risk of death or hospitalisation.
JN.1 is a subvariant of Omicron, which became the dominant global variant of Covid in winter 2021. It has been found in countries across the world including China, the UK and the United States.
It is not known whether JN.1 is more capable of evading immunity offered by vaccines.
