UK's daily Covid cases jump by another 50 PER CENT in a week

March 9, 2022

UK’s daily Covid cases jump by another 50 PER CENT in a week as hospitalisations and deaths creep up

Government dashboard data shows there were 67,159 new positive tests recorded over the last 24 hours
Deaths within 28 days of a confirmed coronavirus case also increased to 123, up 66.2 per cent in a week
Covid hospital admissions increased to 1,192 on March 5, the latest date UK-wide data is available for

Britain’s Covid resurgence continued today, according to official data that showed cases, hospitalisations and deaths were all up for the third day in a row.

Government dashboard data shows there were 67,159 new positive tests recorded over the last 24 hours, 52.6 per cent more than last Wednesday’s figure of 44,017.

Deaths within 28 days of a confirmed coronavirus case also increased to 123, up 66.2 per cent on the 74 recorded last week.

And hospital admissions increased to 1,192 on March 5, the latest date UK-wide data is available for. It was 14.6 per cent on the previous week.

It was the third time all three metrics increased week-on-week in a row, after a two-day hiatus in data over the weekend.

Cases have been increasing across Britain for the last seven days, in an apparent rebound after all restrictions were lifted in England on Freedom Day at the end of February.

Hospitalisations in the South West are now at higher levels than at the peak of the Omicron wave, with experts insisting it is too early to worry but also claiming the increases could be driven by waning booster immunity.

But dashboard data also suggests the fall in Covid testing may be ticking up again, which could also be a factor behind the increase in recorded cases.

Staff at the Chinese laboratory central to questions about the origins of the coronavirus crisis have admitted ‘devastating pandemics can occur’ at facilities housing dangerous viruses.

In a 2,000-word article published in a scientific journal, two professors at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) laid out a series of recommendations to avoid spillovers — despite fears that Covid leaked from their own facility.

The journal entry, described as ‘beyond satire’, advocates for ‘sharing and transparency’ between global biolabs and promotes the ‘exchange of samples and information’.

But British scientists told MailOnline the calls for openness were ironic because Beijing has stifled independent investigations into the Chinese lab’s ties to Covid.

Writing in the paper, WIV virologists Professors Han Xia and Zhiming Yuan warned that biological threats, whether natural ‘or accidentally or deliberately released’, can ‘endanger lives and disrupt economies worldwide’.

‘At one level this paper is a well-written, workmanlike review of biosafety level four labs, and the need for them,’ said Professor David Livermore, a microbiologist at East Anglia University. ‘At another level it is beyond satire.’

The Wuhan lab — located just 10 miles away from the first confirmed Covid case, at the Huanan seafood market — worked extensively on bat coronaviruses and was known to be experimenting on Covid’s closest known relatives.

‘The authors don’t mention this,’ Professor Livermore added. ‘Indeed they say nothing of the assertion that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from the Wuhan lab. One wonders if the referees or editor raised the topic, or if they thought it ‘bad manners’ to do so.’

In other coronavirus developments today:

Staff at the Chinese laboratory central to questions about the origins of the coronavirus crisis have admitted ‘devastating pandemics can occur’ at facilities housing dangerous viruses;
Austria suspended mandatory vaccines for all adults saying the pandemic no longer poses the same danger, just weeks after the law took effect;
Data suggested the BA.2 has made Hong Kong the deadliest place on earth for Covid since mid-February when deaths soared from just 224 to 2287 within weeks;
Fed-up Kiwis labelled Jacinda Ardern ‘out of touch’ as they struggle to make ends meet, claiming New Zealand is in crisis following its zero Covid policy;
Sajid Javid claimed Britons must take more responsibility for their families’ health to protect the NHS as he outlined reforms to the health service to help deal with the backlog.

There were 20,095 third booster doses dished out across the UK yesterday, taking the total number of people fully protected against the virus to 38.4million.

NHS staff, volunteers and private pharmacies also put 4,564 first doses into people’s arms, meaning 52.7million now have at least one jab — 91.6 per cent of the eligible over-12 population.

And 14,655 second doses were given, meaning 49.1million people are now double-jabbed — 85.4 per cent.

Daily testing has been creeping up in the last few days, with more than 705,717 having a swab yesterday, up 8.7 per cent on the 649,222 recorded the week before.

Separate data from the Government-backed REACT-1 study released today shows Covid prevalence was around 2.88 per cent between February 8 and March 1, down from the 4.41 per cent recorded between January 5 and January 20.

It means approximately 1 in 35 people in England were infected with the virus during the period.

Rates of BA.2 were highest in London, standing at 44.3 per cent of all positive cases in the capital.

Proportions of BA.2 were also higher in the southern regions compared to the Midlands and North of England.

Dr Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: ‘These data confirm that cases have declined substantially following the peak of the Omicron wave.

‘However, the increasing presence of the BA.2 sub-lineage of Omicron and the recent slight increase in infections in those over 55 show that the pandemic is not over and that we can expect to see COVID circulating at high levels.

‘Vaccination remains the best way to protect us all from severe disease and hospitalisation due to COVID-19 infection. We urge you to come forward for your primary or booster doses straight away if you have not already done so.’

Even though hospitals in the South West are seeing rising Covid admissions, there are signs a large proportion of these are not primarily due to the virus.

Separate NHS figures show that of the 663 inpatients with Covid in the region at the start of March, 43 per cent were mainly ill with a different illness.

In another promising sign, Covid ICU admissions in the South West are still barely a quarter of the level in January, and 14 times lower than January 2021, with about 16 admissions per day. Covid deaths are still falling.

Covid cases are also about a third of the level now compared to in January but testing is being wound down, making the true scale of infections harder to measure.

Nationally, daily Covid admissions are now rising in all of England’s seven regions.

The rise in hospitalisations comes after No10 ditched all final Covid laws in England on February 24, meaning people no longer have to self-isolate even if they are infected.

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, said the figures in the South West were ‘not a reason to panic yet’ but admitted it was a reminder that Covid was here to stay.

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