Record number of people have COVID-19 in the UK

As reported by the BBC News, one in every 13 people in the UK had COVID in the week ending 26 March

According to the latest reports from the Office for National Statistic (ONS), a record 4.9m people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have COVID.

The ONS survey randomly tests thousands of people and stated that last weeks number was the highest recorded since it began in April 2020.

The majority of the infections are from the contagious Omicron BA.2 sub-variant.

Senior statistician for the COVID infection survey, Kara Steel, said: “Infection levels remain high, with the highest levels recorded in our survey seen in England and Wales and notable increases among older age groups.”

Recent changes from the government’s “living with COVID” plans mean that most people in England now have to pay for COVID tests.

The number of people in hospital beds with COVID has lowered to the level from the start of 2022.

At the Royal Society of Medicine conference in March, Prof Sir Johnathan Van-Tam, former deputy chief medical officer, warned: “Case rates here in the UK are really, really high and hospitalisations in London, for example, are becoming exceptionally high again.”

The EA has said the change will not be “a fixed reduction” in the number of visits to each school, but that “resources will be spread across Northern Ireland to ensure a level of equity”.

“The EA is working to address the pressures and any impact on children and young people and have initiated a range of contingency measures, including recruiting additional staff, streamlining of processes and longer term transformation of services,” the EA said.