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Third wave of infections will continue ‘for longer than expected’ because of England’s Euro 2020 run and Indian variant is growing rapidly in Cornwall, Devon and Brighton due to staycation boom, says top expert
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Britain’s third wave of infections will continue ‘longer than expected’ because of England’s Euro 2020 success and outbreaks of the Indian variant in Cornwall, Devon and Brighton sparked by staycations, a top expert has warned.
King’s College London‘s Covid symptom study estimated there were 25,210 new cases every day in the UK last week, up by almost a third (31 per cent) from the previous seven-day spell.
There was a 50 per cent increase in the number of partially or fully vaccinated people suffering symptoms of the virus and getting a positive test — but in most cases these were mild and similar to a bad cold.
Professor Tim Spector, who leads the app, warned fans meeting to watch the Euro 2020 football matches would almost certainly be fuelling a surge in infections.
He added that rates were also spiralling in popular holiday hotspots including along the South coast, amid a staycation boom because of mounting restrictions on international travel.
The top epidemiologist called on Britons to remain ‘extra vigilant’ and continue to follow measures to limit the spread of the virus.
‘With the summer holidays approaching, we need to remain extra vigilant and avoid unnecessary risks,’ he said. ‘Euro 2020 has the potential to spread the virus among tens of thousands of fans, so I think because of these factors we’ll continue to see high rates for longer than expected.’
Scottish health officials linked almost 2,000 cases to the football yesterday, two-thirds of which were among fans who travelled to London to watch their team’s crunch tie with England.
The country’s cases are doubling every seven days and yesterday public health chiefs recorded 3,887 positive tests, the highest number north of the border since the pandemic began.
There are now escalating fears that England’s infection numbers will follow suit, particularly after the Three Lions qualified for the final stage of the tournament. But hospitalisations and deaths are still flat with just one in 100 NHS beds in England occupied by virus patients compared to one in six at the start of the second wave in December.
The ZOE Covid symptom study uses daily reports from more than a million Britons on whether they feel unwell and have tested positive for Covid to estimate the spread of the virus across the country.
But it relies on participants suffering warning signs of the virus meaning the study misses asymptomatic cases — which trigger no symptoms — thought to make up about a third of all infections.
Those reporting symptoms are also asked to report whether they have been vaccinated, allowing scientists behind the study to monitor infections among those who are jabbed and whether they spark different symptoms.
Outbreaks are surging fastest in the West Midlands (80 per cent rise in a week), the South East (52 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (37 per cent), the app predicted. They added the North West has the most daily Covid cases in the country at 4,732 new infections a day, up 18 per cent in a week.
But separate data shows hospitalisations and deaths due to the virus — a key indicator of whether the NHS is able to cope — remain in very low numbers.
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