More than 2 million people in the UK are estimated to have had Covid in early October, a report said citing latest figures from the office for national statistics.
About one in 30 people in England- 3.1% of the population- had Covid in the week ending 10 October which was an increase from one in 35 a week before, Guardian reported. This suggests that around 1,706,200 people in the UK were infected with Covid in the most recent week.
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“Though infections have increased overall in England, it is a mixed picture across regions and age groups,” Sarah Crofts, the deputy director for the Covid-19 infection survey told Guardian.
It is soon to say that Covid infections are ebbing in the country, the report added.
The report also included data taken from hospitals and released by the UK health agency that shows that the tide may be turning for Covid as 8,198 Covid patients were admitted to hospital in the seven days ending 10 October which fell to 7,809 in the week ending 17 October.
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{{/usCountry}}A new subvariant of Covid’s Omicron strain could become dominant in the UK by the end of the month, Independent reported. “There is BQ1.1, which is a child of BA.5 we had in July, but it is very different. And it probably will become dominant here by end of the month," the Independent reported quoting an expert.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said this week around 300 subvariants of Omicron were now circulating the globe warning that all of them are showing signs of increased transmission and immune evasion.