Millions of people across the UK now have Covid thanks to the rise of new variants and the easing of restrictions. The latest figures show 3.5milion people had coronavirus in the UK last week.
Dr Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, said Covid infections are now at a 'very high level' while England's chief medical adviser Professor Chris Whitty has warned England should expect another wave of illness. It comes as free testing for Covid is set to be scrapped this week.
And millions of people are now catching Covid for a second time - partly thanks to Omicron - reports the BBC. Omicron is better at evading immunity the body has built up from a previous infection. Robert Cuffe, head of statistics at BBC News, said people are now 'pretty likely' to catch coronaviruses multiple times.
He said: "Immunity fades and coronaviruses evolve. Most people can expect to catch the other coronaviruses, such as those which cause common cold symptoms, many times in their life."
He said that while at the start of the pandemic fewer than 1% of Covid cases were reinfections, Omicron has now changed that, adding: "This looks very different to the versions of coronavirus that we saw before.
"Its differences give it a better chance of sneaking past the body's early defences, which were based on exposure to previous Covid infections. And so the rates of re-infection have been about 10 times higher this year compared with rates seen earlier in the pandemic."
The new variant of Omicron is even more infectious than the one seen at the end of last year. But experts say this strain is not more likely to make you seriously ill - and if you have had Covid before your symptoms may be milder.
Immunologist Professor Eleanor Riley said: "Your main concern should be whether you might pass it on to someone who is particularly vulnerable."
