People across the UK might see a new surge of Covid infections driven by Omicron subvariants if infection rate trends continue.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) until June 2 shows England and Northern Ireland are starting to see a rise in cases, although trends remain unclear for Wales and Scotland.
Infection rates are thought to have risen in several parts of the UK, with infections on the rise in London, the north west, and the south east of the country.
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According to sister site The Mirror, there are also early signs of a rise in eastern England, with an area in the East Midlands seeing the largest surge in infections in the last two weeks, with cases up 223 per cent. Experts worry latest mutations, such as the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, may have evolved to infect lung tissue, as did the earliest forms of the virus, making them more dangerous.
The two mutations, first detected in Africa in January and February - were designated as variants of concern in the UK on May 20, but the majority of infections across the UK continue to be of the BA.2 strain. The UK Health Security Agency is also monitoring BA.5.1 - an offshoot of BA.5 - and the BA.2.12.1 subvariant, which remains the dominant strain in the US.
Around 797,500 people in private households in England were likely to test positive for Covid-19 in the week ending June 2, the equivalent of about one in 70, the ONS said. This is up week on week from 784,100, which was also about one in 70.
Wales has seen Covid-19 infections increase very slightly to 40,500 people, up from 39,600, though both estimates are equivalent to around one in 75 people and the ONS describes the trend here as "uncertain". Immunity from the booster vaccines is waning in the majority of the population, with only over-75s and extremely vulnerable groups offered the spring dose.
“It looks as though these things are switching back to the more dangerous form of infection, so going lower down in the lung,” Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, told the Guardian . In response to whether the virus is on the verge of turning into the common cold, he added: "It clearly isn’t, and there’s no pressure on it to do that, really."
Figures showing the number of people hospitalised with the virus have started to level off, after previously falling. Statistics show 4,602 patients in England had Covid-19 on June 13, up 12 per cent on the previous week, while in Wales the figure looks to have levelled off at around 250 to 260.
Patient numbers in both nations had previously been on a steady downwards trend since early April, following the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave, but both remain far below the rate of hospitalisations seen in previous waves of the virus. Covid-related deaths are also falling, with figures from the ONS showing a 55 per cent week-on-week drop in the seven days up to Jun 3, with Covid mentioned on the death certificate of 186 fatalities, the lowest since July 2021.
However, it is possible that fewer deaths were registered in this period in total, as this time covers the bank holidays marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, so the true figure may have been slightly higher than recorded. Despite this, the latest period was the fifth week in a row where covid-related deaths have fallen, a clear downwards trend.
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