A number of new Covid variants are showing an ability to spread quickly and evade vaccine protection, meaning there could be a surge of infections before the end of November according to experts. Figures published last week by the ONS showed that Covid-19 infections are continuing to increase in England and Wales, though levels are still well below those reached during the BA.4/BA.5 wave.
In England, the number of people in private households testing positive for coronavirus in the week to September 17 was 857,400, or around one in 65 – up from 766,500, or one in 70, in the seven days to September 14. The latest estimate for infections in Wales is 62,900, or one in 50 people, up from 39,700, or one in 75.
Covid-19 patient numbers are also starting to rise again. Now the Biozentrum research facility at the University of Basel has warned there are subvariants that are showing an ability to spread rapidly, reports the Independent.
Experts fear new variants such as BQ1. and BA.2.75.2 could create a spike in infections. Cornelius Roemer, computational biologist with Biozentrum, told The Independent. “Omicron was maybe the first variant that was good at evading immunity and that’s why it caused such a large wave. Now for the first time, we see many lineages, many variants emerging parallel that all have very similar mutations and that all manage to still evade immunity pretty well."
He added: "We already have cases going up and we know that there will be another surge due to the variants." Mr Roemer forecasts there could be a new wave of Covid driven by the new variants by the end of November.
