No10 confirms it's watching emergence of two Omicron sub-variants

No10 confirms it’s watching emergence of two Omicron sub-variants responsible for UK’s Covid comeback

• Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the situation was being monitored ‘very closely’
• But insisted the Government not considering imposing restrictions at this point
• Covid cases have nearly doubled in a fortnight in England and admissions rising

Downing Street is keeping tabs on the Omicron variant spin-offs responsible for a recent spike in Covid infections.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said the situation was being monitored ‘very closely’ amid early signs that hospitalisations are also starting to rise.

They insisted the Government was not considering imposing further restrictions at this point and would stick to its ‘living with Covid’ plan.

Covid infections have nearly doubled in a fortnight in England and more than 1,000 people are being admitted with the virus each day.

The outbreak has been fuelled by the spread of BA.4 and BA.5, which are thought to be more infectious but just as mild as the original Omicron strain.

‘We are obviously seeing the emergence of two Omicron sub-variants, which is likely the driving cause for the rise in cases,’ the No10 spokesman said. 

‘The latest data suggests that these are now the dominant strains in the UK. But, so far, vaccination means those rising cases haven’t translated into a rise of severe illness or death with no increase in ICU admissions.’

Covid infections have nearly doubled in a fortnight in England, rising to about 1.4million in the latest week

The prevalence of the Omicron subvariants has nearly doubled every week, according to data from the Sanger Institute — one of the UK’s largest Covid surveillance centres. The strains’ combined 57.4 per cent share of infections in the week to June 11 is up from 41.7 per cent in the week to June 4, 21.2 per cent in the week to May 28 and 11 per cent in the week to May 21. Dominant strain BA.2, which was behind nearly all cases when infections hit a record high in March, now accounts for just 41.7 per cent of cases

Admissions have breached 1,000 for the first time in two months but the majority of patients are not primarily ill with Covid

They added: ‘The key thing for us is vaccination has meant the rise in cases is not translating into ICU admissions and deaths.

‘But we’ve always been clear Covid hasn’t gone away, which is why we have always continue to urge people to come forward and receive vaccinations when they were due them.

Covid vaccines ‘saved nearly 20MILLION lives during first year of world’s roll-out’ 

Covid vaccines saved almost 20million lives during the first year of their existence, according to estimates.

British grandmother Maggie Keenan became the first person in the world to get an approved jab on December 8, 2020.

Pfizer’s rapid discovery of an effective vaccine, and the later roll-out of jabs made by AstraZeneca, Moderna and others, paved the way out of the pandemic. 

Now a team of researchers have calculated the benefits of the jabs, estimating they saved 19.8million lives across 185 countries within the first 12 months of being used.

Led by academics at Imperial College London, the team claimed more deaths were prevented in wealthy countries (12.2 million). 

They found a further 7.5million lives were saved in countries covered by the Covid-19 Vaccine Access initiative (Covax), designed to provide jabs to poorer nations. 

‘As you would expect, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continue to monitor the situation very closely.’

Latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests 1.36million people in England were infected during the week to June 18.

That is almost double the 797,000 who were estimated to have had the virus at the very start of June.

BA.4 and BA.5 are now the dominant strains, with BA.5 thought to be the most infectious version of the virus ever.

There is nothing to suggest they cause more severe illness than the original Omicron, which itself is a milder strain. 

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam last week dismissed hysteria that a recent uptick in Covid cases marks a new wave of the pandemic, saying Britain has to learn to live the virus.

Referring to hospital admission and death data, the country’s former deputy chief medical officer claimed there is ‘nothing alarmist in these figures’.

Sir Jonathan revealed even he had abandoned wearing his face mask. 

Celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, half-term holidays and warm weather are also thought to be fuelling the latest surge. 

Some have also pointed to Britons mistaking Covid symptoms for hay fever.

But infectious disease specialists have confidence the upcoming wave will be no worse than other peaks seen this year. 

And they do not expect any sharp increase in hospitalisations, despite admissions having already breached 1,000 for the first time in two months. 

Only a third of patients are primarily admitted because they are unwell due to the virus, NHS data shows.

That has not stopped some left-leaning scientists to call for the return of mask-wearing and outdoor mixing.

The UKHSA estimated that BA.4 and BA.5 account for approximately 22 per cent and 39 per cent of cases, respectively.

Latest analysis suggests BA.5 is growing 35 per cent faster than the formerly dominant Omicron BA.2, while BA.4 is growing approximately 19 per cent faster. 

This suggests that BA.5 is likely to become the dominant variant in the UK. 

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