A total of 3.1 million – or around one in 17 – people in England were likely to have had coronavirus in the week to 13 July. It represents a slight increase on the figure of 2.9 million – or one in 19 – people the previous week. Covid also remains widespread in Scotland, where an estimated 340,900 people had the virus in the week to July 14, or about one in 15. It is the highest estimate for Scotland since April. In Wales, infections have reached 183,200, or about one in 17 people, which is similar to 183,500 the previous week. In Northern Ireland, infections have fallen to around 88,400 people, or one in 20, from 107,600, or one in 17. Kara Steel, the ONS’s senior statistician for the Covid Infection Survey, said: “Infections have, overall, continued to increase in England, reaching similar levels to those seen in April during the BA.2 wave. However, we see some uncertain trends in the latest data in other countries of the UK, in some English regions and in some age groups. “It’s too early to tell if this latest wave is starting to peak, but we’ll continue to monitor the data closely.” The combined data means 3.8 million people in private households in the UK are estimated to have had Covid in the week to July 14, up 7% from 3.5 million the previous week. While hospital numbers appear to have fallen, there have been calls for a return to infection control measures, including mask use and better sick pay amid concerns about rising cases and new variants. Professor Rowland Kao, chair of veterinary epidemiology and data science at the University of Edinburgh, predicted “much more stressful conditions” in autumn and winter and called for greater precautions. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST “Anything we can do to keep things down now is helpful,” Cao said. “I mean testing, isolating if positive and respecting physical distance, especially in high-risk environments. FFP2 masks in these settings would be a good idea, although this is also a personal choice.” The current estimate is the highest for total infections since mid-April, but is still below the record high of 4.9 million seen at the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave in late March. The figures come as polls show public concern about Covid has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Two-thirds of respondents said they were worried about the risk the coronavirus posed to the country, up from 71% in Match, according to data compiled by polling firm Ipsos. Similarly, 56% of respondents said they were concerned about the risk the virus poses to humans, up from 59%.
