Highly infectious variants spreading across UK

Omicron sub-variants of the novel coronavirus are continuing to spread across the United Kingdom with new data showing the rise in infection rates.

A survey by the Office for National Statistics, or ONS, indicated that approximately one in 25 people tested positive in England in the week ending June 29, or an estimated 2,154,000 people.

The survey showed infections had increased across all parts of the UK, English regions and age groups, with higher rates also recorded in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The estimated percentage of the community population that had COVID-19 in England was 3.95 percent, in Wales it was 4.93, in Northern Ireland 5.36, while in Scotland it was 5.94.

The ONS data is gathered from thousands of private homes, regardless of whether they have symptoms, to give an estimate of how much of the virus is present in the population.

Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the survey, was quoted by the BBC as saying the rise was the result of infections with the newly dominant Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5.

The ONS noted that the risk of re-infection was around seven times higher in the period when the Omicron variants were most common, which is Dec 20, 2021 onwards, compared with the period when the Delta variant was most common, which was May 17 to Dec 19, 2021.

It said people were more likely to be re-infected if they were unvaccinated, had a "milder "primary infection with a lower viral load, did not report symptoms with their first infection, or if they were younger.

The data showed all school pupils were more likely to have a positive test in the spring 2022 term than in the fall 2021 term, but expert Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University, said it was becoming "ever more clear that children and schools are not the main drivers of COVID-19 waves".

Woolhouse was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that in terms of age, the latest infection findings showed "the typical pattern of increasing first and fastest in younger adults", but noted that there could be a delayed wave in children.

Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, was quoted by the FT as saying BA.4 and BA.5 were "the most contagious variants yet".

The stats "confirm that we are heading for record numbers of UK COVID cases", he said, and warned that "these extraordinarily high levels of infection are inevitably causing severe illness in more susceptible individuals and in those who are not fully vaccinated". He highlighted that so-called long COVID, or the long-term effects of COVID-19, were not being given enough public attention.