Is COVID on the rise?
Yes. COVID cases continue to increase as the new highly contagious FLiRT variants spread rapidly across the country.
After nearly four months at around the lowest levels for three years, infections have risen in the UK for the fourth week in a row, driven by new variants together with waning immunity built up from vaccines and prior infections among the public.
The latest data showed that “positivity rates” from the virus via the UK Health Security Agency‘s (UKHSA) surveillance system increased to 9.8k in May 2024, a 3.1k increase from the previous month (see link below for up-to-date WHO UK and international latest data).
The positivity rate figures relate to the proportion of people who take a COVID test, not the overall population, but scientists say they do give a good rough indication of infection rates more generally.
The FLiRT variants, known individually as KP.2 and KP.3, saw their combined share of UK COVID cases reach 67 per cent on 5 May, the latest day for which data is available. The variants involve two key mutations from the JN.1 virus which mean they can spread more easily.
Both have now risen to become the new dominant variant, replacing JN.1, in a matter of weeks.
https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19/cases?m49=826
June 2024
