Britain Breaks Its Record For New COVID Infections

The BBC reports:

About one in every 13 people in the UK has coronavirus, according to latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That is some 4.9 million people, up from 4.3 million people the week before.

ONS officials say that is the highest number seen since its survey began at the end of April 2020. The surge in infections is being driven partly by the contagious Omicron BA.2 sub-variant and people mixing more.

In England and Wales infections continued to rise, while overall trends in Scotland and Northern Ireland were uncertain. The number of people in Covid beds in hospitals has returned to January 2022 levels, data from NHS England suggests.

The Associated Press reports:

Hospitalizations and death rates are again rising, although the number of people dying with COVID-19 is still relatively low compared with earlier this year.

Nonetheless, the latest estimates suggest that the steep climb in new infections since late February, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped all remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, has continued well into March.

The figures came on the same day the government ended free rapid COVID-19 tests for most people in England, under Johnson’s “living with COVID” plan.

Record 4.9 million people have Covid in UK https://t.co/sB0SvGzEts

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 1, 2022