Delta variant cases of covid-19 in the UK have drastically risen in the past week

The UK is continuing to see rising coronavirus infections, with the delta variant of the virus now estimated to account for 99 per cent of new cases. According to Public Health England, the number of confirmed cases of the delta variant has risen from 33,630 last week to 75,953 this week. On 18 June, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told a news conference that the delta variant is “well on its way to becoming the dominant variant globally”.

“This variant that has now taken over from the alpha [variant] is clearly significantly more infectious,” Adam Finn, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told the BBC. “Regrettably, it is more likely to end you up in hospital if you’re unlucky enough to get it.”

An estimated 119,000 people across the UK had covid-19 in the week up to 12 June, according to the latest results from a random swab testing survey by the Office for National Statistics – an increase from 110,000 the previous week. There were 11,007 daily new coronavirus cases reported in the UK on 17 June, the largest daily increase since mid-February.

“The one bit of good news around this is that the rate of rise of hospitalisations is not as fast as the rate of the rise in cases. So we are preventing a lot of hospitalisations with the vaccine programme, but not all of them,” said Finn, adding that “now is the time to get immunised”.