Highly infectious variants spread across UK

Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus are continuing to spread across the United Kingdom, with new data showing the rise in infection rates.

A survey by the Office for National Statistics, or ONS, indicated that approximately 1 in 25 people tested positive in England in the week ending June 29, or an estimated 2.15 million people.

The survey showed infections had increased across all parts of the UK, English regions and age groups, with higher rates also recorded in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The estimated percentage of the community population that had COVID-19 in England was 3.95 percent, with 4.93 percent in Wales, 5.36 percent in Northern Ireland, and 5.94 percent in Scotland.

The ONS data was gathered from thousands of private homes, regardless of whether they had symptoms, to give an estimate of how much virus is present in the population.

Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the survey, was quoted by the BBC as saying that the rise was the result of infections with the newly dominant Omicron subvariants BA. 4 and BA.5.

The ONS noted that the risk of reinfection was around seven times higher in the period when Omicron variants were most common, which is from Dec 20 onward, compared with the period when the Delta variant was most common, which was from May 17 to Dec 19, 2021.

It said people were more likely to be reinfected if they were unvaccinated, had a "milder" primary infection with a lower viral load, did not report symptoms with their first infection, or if they were younger.

The data showed that all students were more likely to have a positive test in the spring 2022 term than in the fall 2021 term. But Mark Woolhouse, an infectious disease epidemiology professor at the University of Edinburgh, said it was becoming "ever more clear that children and schools are not the main drivers of COVID-19 waves".

Woolhouse was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that in terms of age, the latest infection findings showed "the typical pattern of increasing first and fastest in younger adults", but noted that there could be a delayed wave in children.

Lawrence Young, a virologist and molecular oncology professor at Warwick Medical School, was quoted by the FT as saying that BA. 4 and BA. 5 were "the most contagious variants yet".