UK daily Covid cases up 102,483 as Whitty says we can ‘roll with’ infection rise

A FURTHER 102,483 Brits have tested positive for Covid-19 today, government data has revealed.

It comes as England’s chief medical officer said the virus is likely to be seasonal and that Brits should ‘roll with it’.

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Various studies have proven that Omicron is milder and most people will suffer cold-like symptoms and getting your vaccine slashes the risk of hospitalisation or severe illness even further.

Professor Chris Whitty today said that the pandemic is set to ‘become steady and less dominant over time’.

He highlighted: “I’m expecting it to probably be seasonal in the UK but interspersed – for the next two or three years – by new variants whilst it’s still evolving to adapt to humans, which may occur in between seasonal peaks.

“So, I think we should just accept that is what we’re going to deal with and just roll with it rather than expect there is some end point.”

Cases have risen in the UK in recent weeks, with ministers urging Brits to use common sense as the country learns to live with the virus.

Today a further 102,483 people tested positive, up on 91,345 people last week and up from 39,656 cases this time last month.

Sadly a further 194 deaths have been recorded within 28 days of a positive test, this is also up on this time last week when 153 deaths were recorded.

But the numbers of patients in hospital with the bug are still lower than in former peaks.

In order to protect the most vulnerable, the Health Secretary revealed scientists are working on plans to green light a second Covid booster jab for all over-50s this Autumn.

Sajid Javid said said: “We will focus our tests on of those that are most vulnerable or in vulnerable settings and that’s the right way forward.

“Post April 1 if people have Covid symptoms then they should just behave sensibly like you would expect someone to behave if they had flu symptoms.

“That is to socialise a bit less, stay indoors, and wait till you feel better.”

While hospitalisations are still not at levels seen at previous peaks, Prof Whitty said they are ‘high’ and that he expects them to rise in the coming days.

He explained that while the pandemic will become steady over time, there will be issues with it in other parts of the world.

“Covid cases are rising quite rapidly from a quite a high base and this is driven by a number of different factors of which BA.2 – the new Omicron variant – is a large part of it.

“I think it’s important firstly to acknowledge that rates are high and rising in virtually all parts of England.

“This is not translating into the very significant surges in all cause excess mortality, so we are still running at quite low rates in terms of mortality”, he said.

Prof Whitty added that the NHS is under pressure, as hospital admissions reached 16,720, up from 14,327 last week.

He added: “There is pressure on the NHS and fortunately this is not translating into cases in ICU, it’s not at the moment translating into significant impact on excess deaths.”

The update on figures today comes after a new study found that people who had Covid in the last year are now at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

They were 46 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes for the first time in the year following a positive test.

The finding is true even for people who had less severe symptoms, or none at all.