Britain is one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording 164,454 deaths.
London:
Coronavirus levels hit all-time highs in Scotland and Wales and near record levels in England, with around 4.2 million people infected across the UK last week, official figures showed on Thursday. Six.
The rapid rise in infections is due to Omicron BA.2, a more transmissible variant of Omicron, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
About 1 in 16 people in the UK were likely to contract the disease in the week to March 19, the third consecutive week of increases, the country’s official statistics agency said.
Around 4.26 million people are thought to have been infected across the UK last week, just short of the record 4.3 million set in the first week of 2022.
Despite the number of infections, the Tet wave resulted in much fewer deaths than previous waves due to Omicron’s relatively mild symptoms.
Hospitalizations in England and Wales are also increasing, although the number of people in high dependency units remains low.
Scotland’s hospitals are currently treating 2,326 patients, a new record.
Britain is one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording 164,454 deaths.
James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and professor of structural biology at the University of Oxford, said there was “no indication yet that the virus had reached its peak infectivity”.
He added: “The sheer scale of the infection is putting pressure on the health service but the combination of vaccinations, improved treatments and the less severe nature of Omicron means for the vast majority of people who get infected, this won’t be life-threatening.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
