Covid news – live: Hospital patients up by 37% as experts warn of fifth wave

NHS says bed demand at winter level as 1.7 million test positive

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Hospitals beds in England taken up by Covid-19 patients have surged by 37 per cent, as experts warned UK has entered its fifth wave.

New NHS data showed the number of positive patients jumped to 7,822 - up by more than 2,000 in a week.

Coronavirus cases have increased sharply in recent weeks, with the latest figures showing 1.7 million people testing positive across the UK, a 23 per cent increase on the week before.

The figures followed warnings from experts that UK has hit its fifth wave and could spell trouble for the NHS as it is already facing the same level of winter levels of demand on beds. The increase is being driven by the recent BA.4 and BA.5 variants, subvariants of Omicron.

Professor Tim Spector, of the ZOE Covid symptom study app, warned that large summer events could could “potentially have a big effect” on Covid rates.

“Events like Glastonbury will drive up cases but the question is how much do they account for,” he told The Independent.

Key Points

• NHS goodwill 'running dry'
• Cases continue to rise
• Summer events could have ‘big effect'
• UK in ‘fifth wave'

[27 June 2022 12:40 · Matt Mathers]

What is an NHS Covid pass and when do I need to use it?

Boris Johnson ended the UK government’s “Plan B” social restrictions for dealing with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in England on 24 February 2022, apparently drawing a line under the lockdown era once and for all.

How did this impact NHS Covid passes? My colleague Joe Sommerlad takes a look:

[27 June 2022 13:00 · Matt Mathers]

Pakistan orders masks on domestic flights as COVID numbers rise

Pakistan's aviation regulator has made masks mandatory on domestic flights given a gradual rise in the number of COVID-19 cases across the country, it said a statement.

The order comes a day after Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, reported that its COVID-19 positivity ratio, or the rate of positive cases out of all tests conducted, rose to 21 per cent compared with a national rate of 2.8 per cent

"With immediate effect, mask wearing will be mandatory onboard domestic flights,"€ the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) said in the statement late on Sunday.

Pakistan has had very few COVID cases over recent months and had done away with almost all precautions.

But over the past 24 hours, the national COVID positivity ratio had risen to 2.85 per cent with 382 positive cases and two deaths, according to data released on Monday by the National Institute of Health, Islamabad.

[27 June 2022 13:20 · Matt Mathers]

Valneva vaccine authorised by European Commission

French Covid vaccine Valneva has been authorised by the EU Commission.

The EU drug regulator said in a statement that it had cleared Valneva’s two-dose vaccine for people aged 18 to 50.

More background on the jab here:

[27 June 2022 13:36 · Matt Mathers]

How likely are you to catch coronavirus again as UK cases rise?

Scientists have warned a new wave of infections has begun as two Covid sub-variants have led to a surge in cases.

More than 1.7m people now have the virus in the UK, in a 23 per cent weekly increase, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics. That rise is largely due to the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, the ONS said.

My colleague Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:

[27 June 2022 13:58 · Matt Mathers]

‘Significant risks’ to UK food standards ahead after Brexit and Covid – report

The UK is facing “significant risks” to its food standards following two years of upheaval, according to a new report.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) released the first of what will be an annual report highlighting changes and challenges facing the UK’s food system.

Rebecca Speare-Cole reports:

[27 June 2022 14:36 · Matt Mathers]

Well of NHS goodwill is ‘running dry’, ministers warned

Ministers can no longer exploit “a well of goodwill which has totally run dry” to run the NHS, a British Medical Association leader will say, as he demands the Government reverse “brutal” pre-pandemic cuts to health services.

Genevieve Holl-Allen reports:

[27 June 2022 15:00 · Matt Mathers]

Nine Omicron symptoms affecting the fully vaccinated - and signs you may have it

What is the Omicron variant, how infectious is it and what are its symptoms?

My colleague Maryam Zakir-Hussain takes a look below:

[27 June 2022 15:30 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: UK in ‘fifth wave already’ as experts warn summer events will see infections surge even higher

The UK is fighting a fifth wave of Covid as infections soar and large summer events could see cases rise even higher, experts have warned.

Coronavirus cases have increased sharply in recent weeks, with the latest figures showing 1.7 million people testing positive across the UK, a 23 per cent increase on the week before. The increase is being driven by the recent BA.4 and BA.5 variants, subvariants of Omicron.

There are concerns that the return of mass events for the first time after the pandemic – such as Glastonbury over the weekend, Notting Hill Carnival and the Edinburgh Festival in August – will see Covid continue to spiral upward.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has the full report:

[27 June 2022 16:08 · Liam James]

Doctors threaten strikes over pay as new wave of Covid looms

Doctors said they have suffered a real-terms pay cut of 30 per cent since 2008, raising the prospect of strike action as a new wave of Covid-19 threatens to put hospitals under pressure.

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) said at their annual conference in Brighton that doctors’ pay had fallen against the RetaiI Price Index for nearly 15 years, causing a “career earnings loss amounting to millions of pounds” to each doctor.

Delegates at the conference mandated the BMA to “achieve pay restoration to 2008 value for its members within the next five years”.

“Pay restoration is the right, just and moral thing to do, but it is a significant demand and it won’t be easy to win,” said Dr Emma Runswick, presenting the conference mandate.

“Every part of the BMA needs to plan for how to achieve this.

“But I’m not foolish, I know that it’s likely that industrial action will be required to move the governments on this issue.”

Dr Runswick continued: “All around us workers are coming together in trade unions and winning big – last month bin men in Manchester 22 per cent; Gatwick airport workers won a 21 per cent pay increase two weeks ago; and in March cleaners and porters at Croydon hospital won a 24 per cent pay rise.

“Those workers got together and used a key tool that trade unions have – the ability to collectively organise, collectively negotiate and collectively withdraw our labour ... vote for this motion and I’ll see you on the picket lines.”

[27 June 2022 16:48 · Liam James]

Covid hospital patients in England up by 37 per cent

The number of Covid positive patients in hospitals across England has jumped by 37 per cent – up by more than 2000 in a week (Rebecca Thomas writes).

A total of 7,822 Covid positive patients are in beds across England as of Monday, the latest NHS figures show.

New admissions are on the rise with 1,011 recorded on Saturday – up by 35 per cent the week prior.