The number of Britons catching Covid every day rose almost 30 per cent last week, amid fears a fourth wave of infections is just around the corner.
King’s College London scientists estimated 58,126 people were getting infected every day in the week ending September 25, up 28.9 per cent from the previous seven day spell.
Cases have soared in children ever since millions of youngsters returned to classrooms following the summer holidays. But now infections appear to be spilling over into their parents, a trend MailOnline revealed earlier this week.
Professor Tim Spector, who leads the study, said cases were now being passed up the ‘generational ladder’. He warned families to be careful at this ‘critical time’ because a ‘little caution’ could stop hospitals being overrun in the face of another surge this winter.
Britain has seen its Covid cases rise week-on-week for the past 12 days, after yesterday recording 36,722 infections which was a rise of six per cent on last Wednesday. Scotland recorded a meteoric rise in infections after its schools went back in mid-August.
It came as separate Test and Trace data showed England’s infections rose 18 per cent in the latest week. There were more than 190.000 positive test results recorded in the week to September 22, they said.
King’s College London scientists estimated 58,126 people caught symptomatic Covid every day in the week to September 25, the latest available. This was a rise of almost 30 per cent from the previous week
Children, their parents and young adults all saw their Covid cases rise last week, figures suggested. Professor Tim Spector, who leads the study, warned that the infections were now travelling up the ‘generational ladder’
Covid cases are rising in all four UK nations. The above graph shows cases are now higher in Wales than in every region of England
Estimates from the Covid symptom study app — also run by health data science company ZOE — suggested Covid cases rose in all four UK nations last week compared to the previous seven-day spell.
Wales was predicted to have seen the sharpest rise in infections, up 33 per cent in a week to 4,185 cases a day, followed by England (up 29 per cent to 46,275), and Northern Ireland (up 28 per cent to 1,999).
Scotland was predicted to have seen its cases rise by five per cent in the latest week, with 4,185 residents thought to be catching the virus every day.
Professor Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London, said: ‘While the latest ZOE data shows new cases are up on last week, it’s encouraging to see national hospitalisation rates falling as we approach winter.
‘While most cases are still in the young, we’re seeing infections being passed up the generational ladder, likely from school children to their parents.
‘Most of these new adult infections are in the under 50s, who still have a relatively low risk of being admitted to hospital, especially if they’ve been fully vaccinated.
‘As the winter approaches, it’s important parents of school-aged children and students don’t pass the virus on to more vulnerable grandparents by not recognising simple cold-like symptoms as a possible Covid infection.
‘This is a critical time and a little caution could make all the difference in avoiding a winter crisis for hospitals.’
Separate Test and Trace figures showed some 10.9 per cent of people who tested positive for Covid — around one in nine — were not reached, meaning they were not able to provide details of recent close contacts. This was down from 11.7 per cent in the previous week.
Anybody in England who tests positive for Covid, either through a rapid (LFD) test or a PCR test processed in a laboratory, is transferred to Test and Trace so their contacts can be identified and alerted.
A total of 75.0 per cent of people who were tested for Covid in England in the week ending September 22 at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit — a so-called ‘in-person’ test — received their result within 24 hours.
This is down from 87.3 per cent the previous week and is the lowest since the week to July 21.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pledged that, by the end of June 2020, the results of all in-person tests would be back within 24 hours.
He told the House of Commons on June 3 2020 he would get ‘all tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that’.
Boris Johnson is banking on booster shots for the over-50s and first doses for 12 to 15-year-olds to keep a lid on the virus this winter.
But should the NHS come under severe pressure the Prime Minister has warned some restrictions will have to be brought back, including face masks and social distancing. The Government’s scientific advisers say ministers may need to go harder and faster to suppress an outbreak of the virus.
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