Daily Covid-19 infections in the UK less than halved two weeks ago | Corona Virus

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The UK has detected 76,807 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, down 54% from 176,191 detected two weeks ago as the record-breaking Omicron wave appears to have surged.

The United Kingdom reported another 297 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test result on Saturday, up 3% from the 287 deaths reported last Saturday. More than 177,000 people in the UK have Covid on their death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics, the seventh highest toll in the world.

It comes after Health Minister Sajid Javid reiterated his message that the UK is “learning to live with” Covid. Javid confirmed steps on Wednesday to scrap nearly all Covid restrictions in England despite warnings from senior NHS figures that they could spark a renewed wave.

Javid said: “Our rollout of the exceptional vaccine means the number of people severely affected by Covid-19 is low, and UK innovation and research have discovered life-saving treatments for people most at risk.”

Ahead of the 1 April deadline for NHS staff in England to vaccinate or lose their jobs, Dr Nikki Kanani, deputy head of the NHS Covid vaccination programme, said it was the “duty” of staff to protect patients. Al-Kinani’s comments came amid protests against mandatory vaccinations in London on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has identified a branch of Omicron known as BA.2, which potentially has a higher growth rate, as a “variable under investigation” – but virologists said there was no immediate cause for concern.

The UKHSA decision comes as BA.2 cases rise internationally. Infections from the BA.2 branch are still low in the UK but now account for nearly half of Omicron’s cases in Denmark.

The UKHSA said on Friday that the UK has sequenced 426 cases of Omicron BA.2, as the agency investigates the significance of viral mutations. Early indications point to an “increasing rate of growth” from the already developed Omicron BA.1 variant but there is a “low level of certainty” without further analysis.

UKHSA has not identified BA.2 as a ‘variable of concern’, which is the highest rank of risk. The first confirmed case in the UK was confirmed by genome sequencing on 6 December.

“To date, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether BA.2 causes more severe disease than Omicron BA.1, but data are limited and UKHSA continues to investigate,” said Mira Chand, UKHSA’s Covid-19 incident manager, in a statement. on Friday.

It’s normal for viruses to evolve and mutate, and the pandemic will continue to bring about new variants, Chand said, adding: “Case rates remain high across the UK and we must remain vigilant and up-to-date with vaccinations. We should all continue to test regularly with LFDs and have PCR testing in place. symptoms appearing.”

London has detected 146 BA.2 cases and southeast England has confirmed 97. In total, 8,040 sequences from the Omicron branch were uploaded to the international GISAID database from 40 countries.

“Preliminary analysis shows no differences in hospitalization for BA.2 compared to BA.1,” the Danish Serum Statins Institute said Thursday. The institute added that vaccine efficacy tests are underway, but “it is expected that the vaccines will also have an effect against severe disease when infected with BA.2”.

“I would be very surprised if BA.2 caused a second wave at this point,” Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College, said in a Twitter thread, as countries approach or exceed their BA.1 omicron peaks.

Due to its increased interest recently, I will be writing a short thread about what we currently know about BA.2. – What is BA.2? What is BA.2 currently doing? Should we be concerned about that?

– Tom Peacock (@PeacockFlu) January 19, 2022

Other countries confirming more than 100 BA.2 samples include India (530), Singapore (127), and Sweden (181).

Addressing BA.2, Javid said, “With the world’s leading surveillance system, we can detect and accurately monitor any genetic changes to Covid-19.”

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