Omicron surges as UK cases jump 90% in a day
It brings the total number in the UK to 817.
Nearly 250 new cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 were identified in the UK on Thursday – almost doubling yesterday’s daily total.
It brings the official count in the UK to 817 – though the true figure is likely to be significantly higher.
On Wednesday, 131 cases of the new strain were identified – but that jumped 90% to 249 a day later.
It comes amid growing fears about the variant, with experts confident that it is far more infectious, and concerned that it may also be more resistant to vaccines. Scientists are desperately gathering more data to understand more about the strain.
Meanwhile, the Government has alreadt introduced ‘Plan B’ in an effort to slow the spread of the variant.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 248 of the new cases were in England, with just one in Scotland and none in Northern Ireland or Wales.
The agency says England’s total is now 696, Scotland 109, Wales nine and Northern Ireland 3.
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But the time required to sequence positive cases means there is a lag in identifying Omicron cases and yesterday the Health Secretary said the true figure could be multiple times higher than the current official count.
Sajid Javid warned it may in fact be as much as 10,000 already – and could hit a million after Christmas.
The doubling rate of the new strain is said to be between two and three days, meaning it is likely to overtake Delta as the dominant strain.
A top scientist said earlier on Wednesday that the new strain appears to be causing ‘milder’, cold-like symptoms – but warned that the higher rate of transmission could have ‘devastating’ consequences for the NHS regardless.
According to the Zoe Covid Study incidence figures, there are currently 83,658 new daily symptomatic cases of Covid-19 in the UK on average, based on test data from up to five days ago.
That represents a small increase of 4% from last week.
Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and lead scientist on the Zoe study, said: ‘Early signs show that it is breaking through in vaccinated people, but it’s causing milder cold-like symptoms.
‘However, this is not a reason to be relaxed about Omicron.
‘Covid is unpredictable and, even if most only feel like they’ve got a cold, there are far more long-term risks than a cold carries.’
He added: ‘If numbers skyrocket, it doesn’t matter if the percentage of people being hospitalised or dying remain low – it’s about volume, not percentages.
‘The higher rate of transmission even in the vaccinated could have devastating consequences, and hundreds of people continue to die every week as we head into our second Christmas of this pandemic.’
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