Coronavirus infections in the UK sell 30% but vaccines limit the severity of the effect

Coronavirus infections have jumped by almost 30 per cent in the UK, but vaccines continue to limit the impact of the Delta variant, according to official government data.

According to a survey of infections by the National Bureau of Statistics, 153,200 people tested positive for coronavirus during the week of June 19 in the UK, up 29 per cent from the previous week. Over the previous seven days, the weekly increase in infections was only 7%, according to the ONS.

But vaccines continue to be against serious illnesses and those in need of hospital treatment for the Delta variant. Of the 1,320 people hospitalized with Delta variant by June 21, 1,108 of them – more than four-fifths – had not been vaccinated or received a single dose, Public Health England said on Friday.

Of those under the age of 50,000, who account for about 90% of the Delta’s 92,000 cases, not a single person has been completely vaccinated to death. Of the 109 children over the age of 50 who died from infection with the Delta variant, just over half had a double lump, but this is the result of high vaccine coverage among this age group rather than skewing the vaccine.

Devi Sridhar, a global professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the Scottish government’s Covid-19 advisory team, told the Financial Times that “everyone is holding their breath” to see if the waves of infection in young people start to spread. he joined older groups, but remained “optimistic”.

In Scotland, infection rates are higher than anywhere else in the UK, and one in 220 people is infected, according to the ONS. “Schools are closed here and we are outside the euro, so to stop the growth of cases,” Sridhar said. In recent days, about two-thirds of cases between the ages of 15 and 44 have been male, and experts have complained about the celebrations surrounding the football tournament.

“It’s a waiting game now to see how things look like we have doubled the number of older people and given the first dose to young adults,” Sridhar added.

In England, the reproductive rate of the virus, or R value, which lags behind the case data for about a fortnight, has been stagnant for the second week in a row between 1.2 and 1.4, which means that 10 infected people can infect between 12 and 14 more.

Kevin Fenton, England’s director of Public Health in London, said anxiety over the spread of the Delta variant has helped boost the vaccine among young people in the capital. “I was amazed at the excitement we are seeing at a young age and knowing that there is a more contagious variant definitely adds to that,” he said.

Fenton added that London was in a “final big push” before July 19 to end the government’s planned remaining deadlines to increase takeover in the city that has lagged behind the rest of the country. In London about 1.8 million first doses and 1.2 million second doses will have to be administered by the government to fully integrate two-thirds of adults and meet the targets of providing the first dose by 19 July to each person over 18 years of age.