Large summer events could see Covid cases rise even higher as the UK is fighting a fifth wave of Covid as infections soar, experts have warned.
In recent weeks, Coronavirus cases have increased sharply with the latest figures showing 1.7 million people testing positive across the UK, a 23 per cent increase on the week before. The increase is being driven by the recent BA.4 and BA.5 variants, subvariants of Omicron.
Experts concerned about the mass events that are going to take place for the first time after the pandemic– such as Glastonbury over the weekend, Notting Hill Carnival and the Edinburgh Festival in August – will see Covid continue to spiral upward.
Post the jubilee weekend celebrations earlier in June, an initial surge was witnesse with a 43 per cent rise in infections blamed on the four-day holiday to mark the Queen’s 70th coronation anniversary.
Professor Tim Spector, of the ZOE Covid symptom study app, said, “We’re in a wave at the moment,” he said, “heading towards a quarter of a million cases a day, that’s a wave already.”
