Record COVID rates in England still rising in over-55s - study

By Alistair Smout

LONDON – England recorded its highest ever COVID-19 an infection prevalence in March and instances had been nonetheless growing within the over-55s on the finish of the month, an Imperial Faculty London survey mentioned on Wednesday, including that Omicron subvariant BA.2 was now dominant.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has lifted all COVID-19 restrictions in England, citing the expertise with a wave of Omicron infections over new yr which noticed report instances, however didn't produce an equal wave of deaths in Britain’s extremely vaccinated inhabitants.

Imperial’s research confirmed that the height in infections in March surpassed the highs of the BA.1 Omicron wave in January, reinforcing findings by the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) that instances have hit an all time excessive.

The Imperial REACT-1 research additionally discovered that whereas instances had levelled off amongst under-55s by the top of March, they had been persevering with to rise amongst these aged 55 and older.

“We don’t but know after we’ll see a peak within the oldest age group, the 55+, and since these individuals are at larger danger of extreme outcomes, that may be a specific fear,” Imperial epidemiologist Christl Donnelly instructed reporters.

Imperial recorded total prevalence of 6.37% between March 8 to 31, a fee of round 1 in 15 folks. That compares to a earlier report of 4.41% recorded in January.

Amongst over 55s, prevalence reached a report 8.3% by March 31, which the researchers mentioned may very well be on account of elevated mixing from a bunch that had largely been extra cautious throughout the pandemic as an entire, and the waning safety of booster photographs towards an infection.

The brand new peak was fuelled by Omicron subvariant BA.2, which accounted for practically 95% of sequenced samples within the research. The UK Well being Safety Company has discovered that BA.2 has a progress benefit over BA.1, however shouldn't be related to the next danger of hospitalisation.

It's the final REACT-1 report on real-time prevalence as the federal government has reduce its funding for the survey, although the ONS An infection Survey will proceed.