A school pupil having a Covid vaccine (PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)UK Covid-19 infections have surged by more than 30 per cent in the past week, figures show.
Around 2.3 million people in private households are estimated to have had the virus in the last week. This is a 32 per cent increase on the 1.7 million infections recorded the week prior.
It is the higest number of infections since April, but still below the record high of 4.9 million reached at the end of March.
The current spike is being fuelled by the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, the Office for National Statistics has warned.
Sarah Crofts, ONS head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: “Across the UK we’ve seen a continued increase of over half a million infections, likely caused by the growth of BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
“This rise is seen across all ages, countries and regions of England.
“We will continue to monitor the data closely to see if this growth continues in the coming weeks.”
The figures show that around 3.5 per cent of the population in England - one in 30 people - tested positive for Covid in the past week.
It comes as the number of Covid cases rose globally by 18 per cent in the last week to 4.1 million, according to the World Health Organisation.
UK hospitals have recorded around a three-fold increase in coronavirus admissions in the past month from 460 a day on May 28 to 1,400 now.
Daily symptomatic infections have risen by 142 per cent this month, from 114,030 on June 1 to 275,706 on Sunday June 26.
The virus remains most prevalent in Scotland, where 288,200 people were estimated to have had Covid-19 last week, or one in 18.
This is up week-on-week from 250,700, or one in 20, and is the highest estimate for Scotland since early April.
In England, 1.8 million people were likely to have had the virus last week, the equivalent of around one in 30.
This is up from 1.4 million, or one in 40, the previous week.
Wales has seen infections jump to 106,000, or one in 30, up from 68,500, or one in 45.
In Northern Ireland, infections have increased to an estimated 71,000 people, or one in 25, up from 59,900, or one in 30.
