Covid is now more rife in England than at any other time during the pandemic, the biggest Covid surveillance scheme in the country suggested today.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated more than 4.1million people had the virus on any given day over the week to March 26, equivalent to one in 13 being infected.
The figure is the highest ever recorded in England after surging a tenth above the previous peak of 3.7million at the height of the Omicron wave in January. It is also 18 per cent higher than last week.
In the most Covid-ridden towns of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch as many as one in nine people were thought to have the virus.
More over-70s are infected than ever before. High infection rates in this group previously triggered alarm bells because they are most vulnerable to the virus.
Infection rates have also soared to their highest-ever level UK-wide, with 4.9million thought to be infected, up from 4.3million last week.
Statisticians said the surge was being driven by the more infectious version of Omicron, scientifically named BA.2, although it has been suggested easing the last Covid rules could also be fueling the uptick.
But separate data shows Covid cases have dropped every day this week, although this is still too early to show up in the ONS survey. Some of the country’s top experts were adamant the wave would peak before April as the virus runs out of people to infect.
Hospitalisations are still ticking upwards, but official figures suggest about half of admissions are now ‘incidental’ — when someone is admitted to hospital for something else such as a fall but then tests positive for Covid.
The record-breaking cases were revealed on the day England entered a ‘new era’ of the pandemic, with millions no longer able to get free Covid swabs to check whether they have the virus for the first time in a year.
A top epidemiologist warned today the timing of the end of free testing ‘couldn’t really be worse’ and that the country would now have to rely on the public ‘doing the right thing’ and getting tested when unwell.
And a chorus of gloomy Government advisers issued new Covid warnings yesterday of severe pressure on the health service and the risk of new vaccine-escaping variants.
But Sir Patrick Vallance, No10’s chief scientific adviser, yesterday said the UK is ‘close to, or at, the peak’ of the latest wave.
And ministers have insisted it is the ‘right’ moment to scrap free tests for all except those who need them most. Only the most vulnerable and health care workers are still able to get swabs.
The ONS survey is seen as the gold-standard for tracking the pandemic by ministers because it relies on more than 100,000 random swabs, meaning it can reach groups which would normally avoid getting tested.
From today it has become England’s main method for monitoring Covid outbreaks, with the universal testing offer coming to an end. But it lags about a week behind the situation on the ground.
Yesterday NHS Test and Trace workers were pictured dismantling swabbing sites as the around 500 across the country begin to come down.
Results from the ONS survey also revealed infections have hit a record-high in Wales, where one in 14 people now have the virus (212,000 cases last week).
Scotland recorded the highest infection rate in the country with one in 12 having Covid (451,000), but this was down five per cent on last week’s record.
Northern Ireland saw its cases rise 13 per cent to one in 15 being infected (123,000).
In England, all legal Covid requirements came to an end in February, although guidance to wear face coverings in crowded places and isolate when suffering symptoms or testing positive is still in place.
The same approach is in place in Northern Ireland.
And guidance is similar in Wales, after laws to wear masks and isolate after testing positive were scrapped on Monday. But people are still told to wear masks in health and social care settings.
But rules are stricter in Scotland, where laws set out that individuals must wear masks in shops, hospitality venues and on public transport. And infected people are still required to isolate for at least seven days.
Kara Steel, senior statistician for the ONS Covid survey, 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.
‘The rapid rise continues to be fuelled by the growth of the Omicron BA.2 variant across the UK.
‘We continue to closely monitor the data and remain thankful to all of our participants for their contribution.’
ONS statistics showed cases rose across all regions of England last week and among over-25s.
They reached record levels among over-50s, who are most vulnerable to the virus.
But in a sign the wave may be slowing cases plateaued among the under-25s, who have had the highest infection rates throughout much of the pandemic.
The figures — from the UK Health Security Agency — differ from the ONS in that they are based on the number of positive tests reported nationally, and that they are released every day rather than every week.
But they are a potential early signal that the current wave may already be slowing down.
Yesterday the UK recorded 74,720 Covid cases, which was down almost a quarter in a week.
But the number of swabs carried out also fell slightly, while the positivity rate — the proportion of swabs that picked up the virus — remained flat.
Sir Patrick, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, yesterday told MPs earlier today that ‘infections are beginning to turn so we may be quite close to, or at, the peak and it may start coming down shortly’.
But other top scientists today warned the health service is under severe pressure and Britons should continue to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus, the day before free Covid tests for all is scrapped.
Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, told a conference: ‘The waves are still occurring.’ He added they will ‘certainly’ continue.
And Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), called for the nation to keep wearing face masks because infection rates are so high.
She said that Britons should be ‘very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now’.
The record high ONS case rates come as the universal testing offer is dropped in England after it cost £2billion-a-month to run in January.
Professor Tim Spector from King’s College London, who runs the Zoe Covid tracking app, said the timing of the end of free testing ‘couldn’t really be worse’.
He warned England was now in a situation of ‘having to rely on the public to actually do the right thing and get these tests themselves when they get sick’.
He told Times Radio that ‘if we’re not having free testing, let’s have a clear policy on how you would know that you’re infected, and therefore you can self-isolate.
‘To do that, the Government needs to admit that the symptoms of Covid have changed in the last two years, and that 80 per cent of people now present with cold-like symptoms.
‘And there should be a public health campaign to say at the moment, when your chances of having Covid are greater than a cold…test if you can afford it – (and) even if you can’t – assume you’ve got Covid.’
Scotland is not ending its free testing offer until next month, while in Wales the swabs will be offered until July. There are no plans yet to end mass testing in Northern Ireland.
The ZOE Symptom study app estimated there were 349,000 new Covid cases every day over the week to 29 March.
This was up seven per cent on the previous week, and suggested one in 15 people in the UK currently has Covid.
Professor Spector said cases were continuing to soar to ‘all time highs’ but that the slowing in the rate of increase was a promising sign.
On Thursday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said people must ‘learn to live with Covid’ as campaigners criticised the end of free testing.
He told reporters: ‘We are one of the most open and free countries in the world now, and that’s because of decisions that we’ve taken as a country… and it is right also as we learn to live with Covid that we withdraw free testing – universally… if it’s not needed any more, but we focus those resources on the people that need it most. And that’s what we’re doing.’
But Carers UK and the Alzheimer’s Society criticised the move, with the latter saying it ‘risks gambling’ with the lives of people living with dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Society has been campaigning to keep lateral flow tests free for all people visiting loved ones in care homes.
While free testing ends in England, it will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.
The most recent data shows there were 15,632 people in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of Wednesday, up 18 per cent week on week and the highest since January 19.
It comes as official data showed one in four Britons are still working from home despite WFH guidance being ditched two months ago.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 26 per cent of people across the UK either worked from home for all or part of last week.
One in 10 were still exclusively doing their job from home, while 14 per cent travelled to work some days.
The poll suggests roughly 7.7million of the 29.7m workers in the UK are still operating from home at least part of the time, despite No10 trumpeting a massive back to work drive.
Britons were temporarily advised to pivot back to remote working in December when the Omicron wave surged across the country. It led to a third of employees working remotely.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted work from home guidance, Covid passes and face mask rules in England in January as part of the ‘living with’ the virus strategy.
