Covid cases jump by 13% in a week as officials warn up to one in SEVENTEEN people might be infected

Covid has once again returned to England, the latest surveillance data suggests, marking the highest toll since early January.

Up to one in 40 people are infected across England, and up to one in 17 in the country’s worst-hit areas.

Analysts from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that nearly 1.73 million Britons were carrying the virus on any given day of the week up to March 13.

This is an increase of nearly 14 per cent from the previous week, when an estimated 1.52 million Britons were infected.

It comes as leading experts told MailOnline this week that they fear the outbreak will continue to gain momentum in the coming weeks, with some calling for the return of face masks.

GP practices in parts of the country have also started canceling appointments as they have ‘exceptionally low’ staff levels due to the upswing.

Michelle Bowen, head of health surveillance spread at the ONS, said: ‘This week’s data shows that the number of infections in England is on the rise; however, the trend is uncertain in the rest of the UK.

‘In England, positivity increased among children and the over-50s. The North West, East Midlands and South East of England all saw increases in infections, although the trend is uncertain in all other regions.’

But “there are more uncertainties in these latest estimates because of the lower number of samples received,” the ONS said.

The ONS data, based on the random smear of about 100,000 Britons, suggests that one in 40 people in England – some 1.49 million (2.66 per cent) – were infected with Covid last week.

Virus levels also rose in Scotland, with 136,200 (one in 40 or 2.59 per cent) people believed to be carrying the virus.

But infection levels were uncertain in Wales and Northern Ireland, the ONS said.

Wales recorded an estimated 74,500 cases (one in 40 people or 2.41 per cent).

In Northern Ireland, which recorded data for the week ending March 7, 26,000 were believed to be infected (one in 70 people or 1.42 per cent).

“For Northern Ireland, the reference week is the same as in our previous release, but estimates have been updated with additional test results received through March 7, 2023,” the ONS said.

“Too few samples have been returned to Northern Ireland after March 7, 2023 to make robust estimates.”

The latest ONS Infection Survey Data comes just days after the ZOE Health Study revealed that around 136,722 new symptomatic cases of Covid were reported in the UK on March 20, 2023.

Professor Tim Spector, the epidemiologist behind the ZOE Covid infection survey, said cold weather – which encourages people to mingle indoors – and children are to blame for the rise.

Professor Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, also told MailOnline that the UK was in a ‘rather serious situation’ due to declining vaccine immunity coupled with new variants.

Many bouts of these Covid infections are ‘neither brief nor mild’, added Professor Altmann, who is a member of the infamous Independent Sage group that lobbied for a ‘zero Covid’ approach.

“In my opinion, we would continue to think about the extenuating circumstances,” he said.

The latest hospital records also show that 1,189 people infected with Covid were admitted to hospitals across England on March 13.

It is the highest recorded since late December and is not far off this winter’s peak of 1,376.

However, current withdrawal levels are nowhere near those seen earlier in the pandemic, when a maximum of 4,134 withdrawals per day was recorded.

For months, health chiefs have warned of an increase in cases and hospitalizations due to Omicron subvariants Kraken (XBB.1.5) and Orthrus (CH.1.1).

Kraken was the dominant strain in the UK at the end of last month, causing 50.4 per cent of cases, according to ONS data, while Orthrus lagged behind at 19.7 per cent.

The latest Covid surveillance data from the UK Health Security Agency showed that cases appear to be highest in older people.

However, confirmed ones depend on people taking tests and old people living in care homes are more likely to have regular swabs.

Despite rising cases, the ONS confirmed this week’s Covid surveillance data update is the latest survey as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) ‘works to confirm its approach to surveillance’.

In the meantime, the ONS plans to continue working with survey participants to collect data on experiences with Covid, long Covid and other respiratory infections, “the details of which will be announced in due course,” it added.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘Data has always been critical to navigating the safest path through the Covid pandemic.

“The ONS survey became one of the most trusted and reliable sources of infection level surveillance data and provided important information for public health policy.”

He added: ‘Despite its public health value, this type of active surveillance is expensive and is not routinely performed outside of a current health emergency. However, it is vital that our capacity to conduct these types of studies is maintained and available when needed.

“In 2020, the ONS survey only launched on April 26. By that date, the UK had been in lockdown for over a month and the first wave was already at its peak.

“Had the ONS survey been rolled out much earlier – ideally in the first half of February – we would have had more accurate information in those crucial first weeks and probably made better, and perhaps different, decisions about how to respond.

“We will need the capacity to ramp up active surveillance much faster when the next epidemic arrives. This should be a top priority for our pandemic preparedness.”