New Covid variant sparks infection wave with hospitalisation up 24%

Neil Shaw
·2-min read
Very sick young woman sitting on a couch holding her forearm and handkerchief at her nose fighting fever.
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


A new wave of Covid infections appears to have begun as hospitalisations surged 24% in the latest week. It comes amid the spread of a new variant and as immunity weakens among people who have not had a Covid booster jab for months or years.

Admissions with Covid to hospitals in England rose from 2.67 people per 100,000 to 3.31 per 100,000 in the week to Sunday. That is according to the UK Health Security Agency.

UKHSA figures show that the rate of tests coming back positive increased 19 per cent in the week. Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, told i: “This is a wake up call. The virus hasn’t gone away and is certainly not a seasonal infection.

“A combination of new, more infectious virus variants and waning immunity is very likely contributing to these increased levels of infection. The hope is that this will not result in a big wave of infection but we need to keep a close watch."

The new wave is being driven by a Covid variant designated KP.3 In less than two weeks, the number of infections being reported as KP.3 has doubled to 44%.

Professor Christina Pagel, of University College London, told i: “I don’t know whether the KP.3 wave will be bigger than the KP.2 May wave, but I am pretty sure that it will cause another wave making this summer a more Covid-prevalent summer than last year where June and July were very quiet months."

Professor Steve Griffin, of Leeds University, said: “It certainly looks as though yet another Covid wave is building. If the rise in hospitalisations continues, this is obviously worrying."

Bob Hawkins, a data analyst who works with the Independent Sage group of Covid scientists, said: “We are definitely in a wave. This wave will be larger than the May wave."

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