Covid infections on the rise in the UK

Coronavirus infections are on the rise in the UK, with cases increasing by 14 per cent week-on-week, according to official estimates.

Infections have also topped more than one million, the highest rate since the summer.

There was a 14 per cent rise in people testing positive in the week to 20 September, the Office of National Statistics has said.

The ONS said that there was no clear evidence that a new wave of Covid has started, the BBC reported.

Deputy chief medical officer for England, Dr Thomas Waite, told the broadcaster that the rise in hospital admissions of patients with Covid was a “wake-up call”.

“The fact that there are people getting so seriously ill they need to go into hospital is a wake-up call to us all that Covid is still here,” he said.

The ONS said that, though Covid infections were on the rise in England and Wales, the trend was less clear in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“It is too early to identify whether this is the start of a new wave of infections. We will continue to closely monitor the data,” Sarah Crofts, from the ONS Covid-19 infection survey, said.

The latest ONS data showed that one in 60 people had Covid in the UK in the week up to 20 September.

One in 65 people had Covid in England, but this was down in Northern Ireland where only one in 80 people were infected.

One in 50 people had Covid in Wales in the week up 20 September. In Scotland, one in 45 people were infected.

A total of 7,024 people with Covid were hospitalised in England as of 28 September, the NHS said. That was an increase of 37 per cent, from 5,142 a week earlier.

It was the highest figure since 19 August.