Covid infections are high and rising around the UK

Covid infections have risen again in much of the UK, say experts from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Latest data from swab tests in the community suggests in England, where Covid rules are due to be dropped, one in every 95 people has the virus.

That is up from one in every 160 in the previous week.

In Scotland, estimates suggest one in every 90 people is infected, while in Northern Ireland it is one in 290 and in Wales it is one in 360.

The more infectious Delta variant accounts for almost every case.

It comes as:

• England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warned that Covid hospitalisations were doubling every three weeks and could hit "scary numbers" in the future

• Solicitor General Lucy Frazer said that while cases will rise in the coming days, there were "consequences for not opening up" as rules ease on Monday in England

• Two-thirds of the public plan to keep wearing face coverings in shops and on public transport, a survey from the ONS suggested

• More than half a million self-isolation alerts were sent to people using the NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales during the first week of July - a rise of 46% on the previous week

The latest data suggests that just over 650,000 people, or 1% of the population in the UK, would test positive for coronavirus in the week to 10 July - up from 400,000 people the previous week.

The ONS says the percentage of people testing positive has "continued to increase" in England and Scotland, whereas the "trend is uncertain" in Wales and Northern Ireland.

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Sarah Crofts, head of Analytical Outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: "Infections have increased across much of the UK, with England currently at levels last seen in February this year.

"With infection rates continuing to rise and restrictions easing, keeping a close eye on the data is crucial to see how much protection is provided by the vaccination programmes."

Prof Whitty told an online seminar hosted by the Science Museum on Thursday evening that the situation in the UK could become very dangerous for individual hospitals.

He said: "I don't think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast.

"Saying the numbers in hospital are low now, that does not mean the numbers will be low in hospital in five, six, seven, eight weeks' time.

"They could actually be really quite serious."

Ms Frazer told Sky News the government could not rule out reintroducing restrictions in England if the virus situation became "unacceptable".

England's coronavirus R number range has decreased slightly to between 1.2 and 1.4, which means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people.

Last week, R was between 1.2 and 1.5.

On Thursday, the UK recorded new 48,553 new infections and a further 63 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Delta virus variant cases rose by 17% in the latest week, with a further 36,800 recorded, Public Health England (PHE) said.

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