Data from the Sanger Institute, one of the UK’s largest Covid surveillance centres, shows that six out of 10 positive swabs it tested in the week to June 25 were Omicron’s BA.5 version. It has now officially displaced BA.2, which caused infections to top 4 million in April and prompted NHS bosses to call for the return of masks just days after the No10 abandoned all restrictions. BA.5, which is also gathering steam in the US and across Europe, is thought to be a third more contagious than its ancestor, which is considered as contagious as measles. Government advisers, however, believe it is just as lenient. Experts told MailOnline that the strain could push daily infections to “higher levels than seen before”. Covid cases have already doubled in the last month and NHS hospitals have seen an increase in admissions. In light of the virus’s current resurgence and concerns that it could disrupt the health service’s efforts to deal with its ever-growing backlog, officials are said to be considering expanding the booster vaccination campaign in the fall to cover all people over 50 years old. Hours before resigning over a lack of confidence in Boris Johnson, former health secretary Sajid Javid said he had told the NHS to prepare for a wider program than expected. Interim guidance recommended limiting jabs to residential residents, over 65s, frontline health and social workers and vulnerable young people. Data from the Sanger Institute shows that BA.5 was behind 58.6 percent of all infections in the week to June 25 — up a fifth from a week earlier, when it caused 48.8 percent of cases. Since it was first detected in South Africa in February, it has caused concern over the speed of its growth. Figures from the Sanger Institute show that its prevalence has almost doubled every week. It caused just 5.8 per cent of infections in the week to 21 May, rising to 10.4 per cent in the week of 28 May, 21.6 per cent to 4 June and 36.6 per cent in the seven days to 11 June Covid infections in England have risen to just over 1.8 million according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics This chart shows the number of deaths directly attributable to Covid recorded in England and Wales. The number of deaths recorded in these nations today is much lower than in previous waves earlier and a very small fraction of those seen in early 2021 Hours before resigning over a lack of confidence in Boris Johnson, former health secretary Sajid Javid (pictured today) told the Cabinet that an extra six million people should be offered a fourth dose to control hospital admissions amid a surge in infection , amid fears the NHS will be crippled this winter

Over-50s could get FOURTH Covid vaccine in autumn to stave off NHS winter crisis as Omicron boosts new cases and hospital admissions

Over-50s are to be offered a Covid booster shot as early as the autumn as ministers plan the latest battle against rising infection numbers. Around six million people are thought to be in line for a fourth shot as the latest sub-variants of the Omicron strain continue to spread rapidly. Outbreaks across Europe are being fueled by Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which are believed to be even more virulent than the BA.2 strain that caused UK infections to spiral to 4.1 million in April. Hospital admissions have tripled in the past month, with around 1,500 patients infected with the virus now being transferred to wards each day. Former minister Sajid Javid had addressed cabinet colleagues about the recent rise in infections, but the Times reported that there appeared to be no new restrictions so far. Mr Javid, who resigned as Health Secretary hours after his warning, had briefed the cabinet on the Covid situation for the first time in months after infections surged in recent weeks. Rather than rush the return of restrictions, health bosses are said to be keen to encourage increased vaccination rates in the autumn in time for any winter rush. Since BA.5 was first spotted in South Africa in February, experts have been concerned about the speed of its growth. Data from the Sanger Institute shows it was behind 58.6 percent of all infections in the week to June 25 — up a fifth from a week earlier. By now, its prevalence had almost doubled every week. It caused just 5.8 percent of infections in mid-May. Meanwhile, the separate but closely related Omicron BA.4 substrain, which was designated as a variant of concern along with BA.5, appears to have slowed down. It was behind just 25.8 percent of cases in the most recent week, compared with 25.1 percent a week earlier. While this data provides the most up-to-date picture, the researchers note that the positive tests they follow are not a representative sample of the population. And since the government’s £2billion-a-month free testing scheme was scrapped, it has tested fewer smears – which could have created discrepancies in its data. However, figures from the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) paint a similar picture. In a report last week, it noted that BA.5 is “likely” to become mainstream in the UK, estimating that 39.5 per cent of all cases in England were caused by the strain by 15 June. His data shows that BA.5 was the most prevalent in the Southeast. The UKHSA said the developmental advantage of BA.5 over BA.2 “would reasonably lead to increased transmission in the community”. The former dominant strain caused Covid infections to rise to record highs in April. Virus monitoring data from the Office for National Statistics, now considered the best barometer for monitoring the outbreak, showed 4.1 million people in England were infected during the last peak. Its most recent update — based on tens of thousands of random swabs — shows that about 1.8 million were infected by the end of June, up by a third from the previous week. As well as the new variations, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, half-term holidays and warm weather are also believed to be fueling the latest boom. Some have also pointed out that Brits are mistaking Covid symptoms for hay fever. Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: ‘At the moment it looks like BA.4/BA.5 together will push the total new infections per day higher than it has previously observed’. But he added that BA.5 may cause “less severe disease on average per infection” than previous strains, although it’s too early to know for sure. “But of course the total amount of severe disease depends on both the number of infections and the risk of severe disease per infection. [it is] not yet [possible] to say I have a very serious illness/ how many deaths will occur in total,” he added. Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, told MailOnline: “We’ve known for some time that another – the third – major wave was going to hit the UK and now we’re well into it.” He said it was mainly due to BA.5, which “proves once again that the virus’ ability to evolve shows no signs of abating.” He said the fact that people are going about their lives largely as normal “shows how far we’ve come in terms of limiting serious illness and death from this virus.” High vaccination immunity rates in the UK and repeated waves have drastically dampened the threat of the virus, turning it into something akin to influenza. But Dr Griffin noted that the “total reliance on vaccines and antiviral drugs” to control the outbreak – instead of using measures such as masks and testing – fails to take into account that immunity declines over time and that the virus can evolve. He called for increased access to Covid tests, masks in crowded places and support for people to self-isolate when they become infected, which “will not only reduce the impact of large waves, but do more to reduce the continued plateau of infections we have seen since then last July”. Professor Gary McLean, an immunologist from London Metropolitan University, told MailOnline that whenever a new variant appears that has a transmission advantage, it “displaces the previously dominant variant”. He said: “This could be due to better cell infection, more virus copies being made, longer duration in the airways of infected individuals or better survival rates in the environment. “This is the normal evolution of the RNA virus in real time, most mutations we don’t see as they don’t give the virus an advantage or are harmful. “But those mutations that are tolerated and/or provide a fitness advantage are selected over time until they become dominant. Data from the Sanger Institute shows that BA.5 (dark pink) was behind 58.6 percent of all infections it detected in the week to June 25 — up by a fifth from a week earlier, when it caused the 48.8 percent of the time Figures from the UK’s Health Safety Agency show that BA.5 (yellow) was behind 39.5 per cent of all cases in England in the week to 15 June The latest figures from NHS England show that 1,572 people infected with Covid were admitted to hospital on June 29, a 38.7% increase in a week. The number of patients in hospital rose by 39.1 per cent to 9,389 in the week to July 1, while the number of patients with severe viruses, requiring medical ventilation, rose by 30.4 per cent. However, official figures show that only 37.5 percent of these patients are admitted to hospital mainly because they are unwell with the virus, while the remaining two-thirds were hospitalized for another reason and also tested positive for the virus.

Still NO rise in Covid deaths: Just five more virus deaths were recorded in England and Wales last week – despite cases more than doubling in the past month

Deaths from Covid in England and Wales remain below 25 a day, despite infections nearly doubling in the past month,…