Talk about desperate: UK at risk of new Covid summer wave as hospitalisations jump by 24% in a week

June 21, 2024

Covid looks to be in the early stages of a fresh summer wave, as new data reveals hospitalisations from the virus jumped by nearly a quarter in just one week.

The rise in case numbers is thought to be due to a combination of waning immunity built up from vaccines and previous infections and the rapid spread of an emerging variant known as KP.3.

Hospital admissions rose by 24 per cent in the week to Sunday, from 2.67 people per 100,000 to 3.31 per 100,000, according to new figures from the UK Health Security Agency.

This is still significantly below the peak of the spring wave, which ended less than a month below – and far below levels seen last autumn and winter.

But scientists said the increase gives a clear indication that Covid cases are rising once again as the summer months progress.

This fear is further fuelled by two more new UKHSA figures, which relate to the proportion of positive test results among people suspected of having Covid.

Laboratory tests showed “positivity rates” for Covid rose by 19 per cent in a week, from 8.4 to 10 per cent.

Meanwhile, tests at GPs showed positivity rates increased by 13 per cent – from 4.7 per cent to 5.3 per cent – over the same period.

Scientists said these tests are less accurate than testing a large cross section of the general public at random – but that they gave an indication of trends.

“This is a wakeup call. The virus hasn’t gone away and is certainly not a seasonal infection,” Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, told i.