New Covid wave warning as cases double since January ...Middle East

Covid cases have more than doubled this year, as immunity wanes from vaccines and previous infections, new figures show.

The proportion of hospital patients in England testing positive for Covid increased by 7 per cent in the week to Sunday 6 April, as the ‘positivity rate’ rose from 4.2 per cent to 4.5 per cent, according to the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

This compares to a positivity rate of just 2.2 per cent in early January, when Covid hit its lowest level for at least two years.

And while the current level is barely a quarter of what it was at the height of last summer’s wave, it does show that Covid has far from vanished, even if it doesn’t register highly in the public consciousness anymore, scientists say.

“The overall trend of infections increasing has been consistent over the past few weeks, so I’d be surprised if this didn’t culminate in another wave,” Professor Steve Griffin, of Leeds University, told The i Paper.

The latest figures suggest the rate of increase – which has been steady and consistent for most of this year – is accelerating.

The latest weekly rise in Covid cases comes despite a decline in the new “LP” variants, which were thought to be a key driver of rising cases in the previous few weeks.

This indicates that waning immunity is the main driver of this year’s increases in the Covid rate.

All of which suggests cases look set to continue to rise in the coming weeks and may well lead to a new wave, albeit at a much lower level than seen during the height of the pandemic.

“Growth seems highest in older age groups, indicating that uptake of the spring vaccination will be an important factor in how this plays out. The school holidays may also delay infections taking off,” Prof Griffin added.

Simon Williams, of Swansea University, added: “Cases have been relatively low for some time – thankfully we had a relatively low level of Covid this winter. This means many people have not been infected for a while, which means their infection-acquired immunity will have waned a bit.”

“At the same time, immunity for more vulnerable groups will have waned. For those in eligible groups for the spring booster, who are more vulnerable to the virus, it is recommended that they get their spring vaccine as soon as possible,” he told The i Paper.

Scientists point out that positivity rates are much higher in hospitals than the infection rate in the general population because only people with symptoms are being tested.

And they say it can’t be taken as a precise estimate for the level of Covid in the general population because it is only based on hospital patients.

However, they say these “positivity rate” figures are a good indicator of trends for the virus more generally across the UK.

They also point out that hospitalisation rates have been fairly stable so far this year – falling 2 per cent to 1.43 per 100,000 of the population, in the week to Sunday 6 April.

This indicates that the proportion of cases leading to severe illness is decreasing.

Spring booster campaign

Booking for the spring 2025 booster campaign, which runs from 1 April to 17 June, 2025, will begin on Tuesday.

Those eligible will be:

GPs will contact those who are eligible to invite them to sign up for a spring booster.

You can also book through the national booking system (which goes live on Tuesday) at this website:

Or by using the NHS app for Apple or Android.

And you can find your nearest walk-in vaccination site on the NHS website.

Around 9.8 million people in England, out of the estimated 20 million who were eligible, had a Covid jab in the 2024 autumn booster campaign.

The uptake among under-65s with weakened immune systems was particularly low with only around 22 per cent of those eligible in England taking up the offer of a free jab.

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