Britain’s daily Covid cases are continuing to increase, official data shows as new hospital admissions flicked up for the first time in 10 days.
Department of Health bosses posted 23,510 new infections today — an increase of 8.4 per cent on last Tuesday’s figure of 21,691.
The curve is continuing to speed up, with the change in the week-on-week rise in average infections — a more accurate barometer than daily figures — jumping to 7.3 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent on Monday and 1.9 per cent on Sunday.
There were 146 virus victims today, 5.8 per cent than last Tuesday when there were 138 deaths recorded. Today’s figure marks the highest daily death toll since March 12, when 175 people died with Covid.
And in another worrying sign, daily hospital admissions crept up by 3.3 per cent to 755 on August 6. It was the first time admissions had risen week-on-week since July 26, with hospitalisations now beginning to reflect the jump in cases seen two weeks after restrictions were lifted on July 19.
But in more positive developments, official data also revealed more than three quarters of adults in the UK have now received their first vaccine dose.
Boris Johnson praised the country’s ‘huge national achievement’ in ensuring more than 39.7million over-18s are fully protected against the virus.
Department of Health data shows 47.1million (89 per cent) have had a first dose of the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘Our incredible vaccine rollout has now provided vital protection against the virus to three quarters of all UK adults. This is a huge national achievement, which we should all be proud of.
‘It’s so important that those who haven’t been vaccinated come forward as soon as possible to book their jab — to protect themselves, protect their loved ones and allow us all to enjoy our freedoms safely.’
Top Government adviser says No10 will need to scrap asymptomatic swabbing as pandemic phase fizzles out
Asymptomatic testing should be wound down as the UK learns to live with the pandemic, one of the country’s top coronavirus experts said.
Sir Andrew Pollard, who helped develop the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, said just people who are unwell with Covid symptoms should be tested and treated.
As it stands, anyone who has a fever, has a new cough or has lost their sense of taste or smell can get a PCR tests.
And anyone can order free lateral flow tests to use at home.
NHS Test and Trace was given a £37billion budget for the first two years and had spent more than £4billion on lateral flow tests up to the end of March.
Sir Pollard today told the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus that there should be a shift in the testing regime.
He said we need to work out ‘what does ‘learn to live with Covid’ mean?’
Sir Pollard added: ‘What does that mean in terms of the surveillance that we’re doing, the testing that we’re doing, and also how we should manage patients in hospital or even before hospital in their treatment to try and stop them getting into hospital?
‘I think this next six months is a really important consolidation phase and in that shift from the epidemic to the endemic, which is the ‘living with Covid.
‘That doesn’t mean that we live with it and put up with it, we still have to manage those cases of patients who become unwell with it.
‘Over time we need to be moving to clinically-driven testing as well where it’s people who are unwell who get tested and treated and managed, rather than lots of community testing in people who have very mild disease.’
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It comes as:
A top scientist claimed British holidaymakers could be paying 20 times more than the ‘fair’ price for PCR Covid tests; One of the country’s top coronavirus experts claimed children who aren’t unwell shouldn’t have to self-isolate to curb the spread of Covid; Scientists said Eradicating Covid is ‘probably feasible’ and it will be easier to eliminate than polio;Official figures revealed Covid is once again killing more people in England and Wales than flu and pneumonia;A father who refused to get a Covid vaccine admitted he thought he’d never see his family again after he was rushed to intensive care with the virus; An Arsenal fan who caught Covid after watching England play in the final at Wembley died two weeks later despite being double jabbed.
Friday’s rise in hospital admissions was the first time hospitalisations increased since July 26 when 928 admissions were recorded.
Previously they had been falling week-on-week despite the recent uptick in cases, which experts say was caused by the lifting of restrictions on Freedom Day.
It took just 16 days for infections to reflect the changes to the rules and another, with new cases rising for the first time since July 21 on August 3, but only another two days for admissions to start rising.
Admissions usually lag behind changes in infections by around a week, suggesting real cases may have actually begun rising again slightly earlier than was recorded by the number of people testing positive.
The figures come after an expert advising the Government today told MPs herd immunity is ‘mythical’ despite so many jabs being dished out.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, chair of the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus that it is not possible for vaccines to provide enough immunity to stop the spread of the virus among people who have yet to have a jab.
He emphasised the roll of vaccines is to minimise severe disease and death from the virus and people who have not had a dose need to get inoculated in order to be protected.
Data from Public Health England (PHE) shows Pfizer’s vaccine is 96 per cent effective at reducing hospitalisations while AstraZeneca’s is 92 per cent effective.
Figures from PHE and Cambridge University shows that around 60,000 deaths, 22million infections and 66,900 hospitalisations have been prevented by vaccines.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid praised the NHS for reaching the 75 per cent milestone for double doses and encouraged more people to come forward for a jab.
The virus was the underlying cause of death for 348 victims in the week ending July 30 – the highest level since March. For comparison, flu and pneumonia were behind 316 deaths during the same week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is the first time the trend has changed for over four months
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured today, left, with NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard at Milton Keynes University Hospital) praised the NHS for reaching the 75 per cent milestone for double doses and encouraged more people to come forward for a jab
All adults in the UK are able to get their second doses after eight weeks. This will mean every adult has the chance to have two doses by mid-September. Graph shows: Proportion of people in each age group who have had their first vaccine dose
Second doses are still lagging behind in younger age groups. Graph shows: Proportion of people in each age group who have had their second vaccine dose
COVID MUTATIONS THAT ARE VACCINE-RESISTANT ARE ‘INEVITABLE’, EXPERT WARNS
Covid variants that can escape the protection given by vaccines are an ‘absolute inevitability’, infectious disease expert Professor Paul Hunter has said.
He was speaking today to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, which was hearing evidence on vaccinating children, booster jabs and access to jabs.
Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, told the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus: ‘It is absolutely inevitable that we are going to get escape variants coming in.’
Mutations deemed variants of concern in the UK include the Kent ‘Alpha’ variant, the South African ‘Beta’ mutation, the Indian ‘Delta’ strain and the Brazil ‘Gamma’ variant.
Vaccines are thought to be less effective against Beta and Delta.
Professor Hunter said the seasonal coronaviruses in circulation will infect people ‘repeatedly’ throughout their lives, typically on average every four or five years.
He said: ‘Quarter of the UK population will get infected on average every year, what that means is about 45,000 people will be infected every day with theses other coronaviruses.
‘Ultimately what happened with these other coronaviruses is that although you get a gradual escape, because we are getting re-infected so frequently, we actually keep up.’
Prof Devi Sridhar, chair in global public health at the University of Edinburgh, added: ‘We have already seen Alpha, Beta, Delta, it is inevitable.’
She added that vaccines had ‘transformed’ the pandemic but ‘not solved it’.
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He said: ‘Three in four adults across the UK have now had both doses of the vaccine, which is incredible and a testament to the fantastic work of the NHS, volunteers and everyone involved in the rollout.
‘Getting two doses of a Covid vaccine is the key to enjoying a host of new freedoms safely – whether that be to enjoy a trip abroad with family or a night out with friends – as we continue to build our wall of protection.
‘The vaccines are allowing us to reconnect with the things we love, but more than that, they’re protecting the people we love too.
‘Please make sure to come forward for your jab if you haven’t already as soon as possible.’
All adults in the UK are able to get their second doses after eight weeks. This will mean every person aged over 18 has the chance to have two doses by mid-September.
People will be required to prove they’ve had two jabs to enter nightclubs and other venues where large crowds gather by the end of September.
From August 16, double vaccinated people will also no longer be required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of a positive Covid case.
People will continue to be advised to take a PCR test and anyone who tests positive will still be legally required to self-isolate, irrespective of their vaccination status.
And speaking to MPs this morning, Professor Pollard warned vaccines alone could not ensure herd immunity.
He said: ‘What we know very clearly with the coronavirus that this current variant, the Delta variant, will still infect people who have been vaccinated and that means that anyone who is unvaccinated will meet the virus.
‘It might not be this week, this month or this year but they will meet the virus.
‘I think we are in a situation here with this current variant where herd immunity is not a possibility because it still infects vaccinated individuals.’
Chair of the APPG on Coronavirus Layla Moran MP said: ‘The worrying evidence we heard today suggests that given the emergence of new variants, including vaccine-resistant ones, achieving herd immunity is just a pipe dream.
‘The government’s plan to learn to live with Covid cannot become a byword for abdicating responsibility to the most vulnerable.
‘Ministers must re-evaluate their approach and come up with a new and comprehensive, long-term plan to mitigate the risks posed by Covid and new variants.
‘That must include showing moral leadership and stepping up efforts to vaccinate the world.’
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