The UK is already in a ‘devastating’ new Covid wave that could ruin an already bloated NHS, experts say.
Covid cases rose 14% last week, with more than 1.1 million people testing positive, according to the Bureau of National Statistics.
What’s causing the new wave is unclear, but experts believe the government’s “wrong” list of Covid symptoms means people may be spreading the virus unknowingly without realizing it.
Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the Zoe Health Study, a phone app tracking the spread of Covid, told The independent: “Looks like we’re at the beginning of the next wave and this time it’s hitting older people a little earlier than the last wave.”
Professor Spector warned that official data may seem high, but it underscores the problem as testing is not as common.
And crucially, the Covid virus the world is facing today is not the same as the virus that first broke out in 2020.
“A lot of people are still using government guidelines about symptoms that are wrong,” he added.
“Currently, Covid starts with sore throats in two-thirds of people. Fever and loss of smell are really rare now – so many old people may not think they have Covid.
“They would say it’s a cold and not being tested.”
Omicron, the 13th variant of the coronavirus, has a few more tricks compared to previous versions of the virus.
Some sub-variants of Omnicron, such as BA.2.75.2, are extremely rare, but can evade the immune system better than all other forms of Omnicron.
These sneakier variants could pose ‘real problems’ with the NHS that is ‘already on its knees’, said virologist Professor Lawrence Young of the University of Warwick.
“We can only detect variants or know what’s going to happen by doing sequencing from PCR tests, and that’s happening nowhere near the degree it was a year ago,” he said.
“People will get several infections over the winter, but they won’t know what they are because there are no free tests available — that’s going to be a problem.”
But the woes of public health officials don’t end there, added Professor Young.
The government cutting back on any form of Covid aid, from testing to subsidized wages for those infected, means the country is ‘blind’ to the true extent of Covid.
He said: ‘Another angle is the economic pressure. If people feel bad, they probably won’t take time off from work.
“You really have a perfect storm here of insufficient supervision, people not reporting for vaccination and the economic situation.”
Overall, Covid cases are up 65% from the UK average two weeks ago, while deaths are up 13%.
The nationwide total has not exceeded one million since the end of August.
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