An estimated 2.3 million people – or one in 30 – had Covid-19 in late June, according to the latest numbers from the Office for National Statistics. That is an increase of 32 per cent on the week before.
The rise is being powered by two sub-variants of Omicron, called BA.4 and BA.5, bringing a call from leading scientists for vaccines to be updated to target newer variants, keeping more people out of hospital.
The government’s mantra for some time has been that the UK needs to “learn to live with” the virus. The vaccine rollout has clearly provided an important layer of protection – if there had been such a volume of cases before the arrival of the vaccines, then there is no doubt that the NHS would be overwhelmed. That is not happening, although with hospital admissions on the rise, it would be remiss of the government to take its eye off the ball.
