A sign outside a Covid-19 test centre at Chingford Assembly Hall, London (James Manning/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)A rise in Covid cases was expected following restrictions being scrapped, the Health Secretary said on Monday, as it was revealed an estimated one in 25 people in England have the virus.
Sajid Javid confirmed a fourth vaccine would begin to roll out for elderly and vulnerable people by the end of March as cases surge.
ONS figures show there has been a rise in the number of infections across the UK since face covering rules and the legal requirement to self-isolate after testing positive were ditched in February.
In the week ending March 5, an estimated one in 25 people in England had Covid. In Scotland it was one in 18 and in Northern Ireland one in 13.
There were 72,898 cases of Covid-19 reported in the UK on Friday and almost 12,000 people in hospital with the virus.
On February 24, when most of the remaining Covid restrictions in England came to an end, there were 38,933 reported cases.
It comes amid concern about the new “Deltacron” variant - which combines mutations from both Omicron and Delta.
But Mr Javid said that only a “handful” of cases of the new strain had been identified in the UK and they were “not of particular concern”.
Some 99.9 per cent of infections in Britain are of the Omicron variant, he added.
Mr Javid told Sky News: “We keep the situation very carefully under review. There’s no other variant of concern out there that is an issue at this point in time.
“We have seen some rises in infections over the last week but given the increase in social mixing this was to be expected.”
He also confirmed free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing will still end in England from April 1 as planned.
