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Covid hospitalisations rise more than a 5th in a week as new variant spreads

October 10, 2024
Covid hospitalisations rise by more than a fifth in a week as new variant spreads
  • UK

As the new XEC variant spreads, the number of patients admitted to hospitals with Covid increased by 22% in just one week, according to fresh data. The most recent data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that in the week leading up to Sunday, October 6, about 4.55 persons per 100,000 were hospitalized with the illness, up from 3.72 the previous week. The increase follows a dramatic increase in cases in October brought on by the new variety, the cooler temperature, and kids returning to school.

When a patient's health deteriorates due to a new illness, hospitalization usually occurs after a week or two. Positively, new Covid infections were steady in the same week after climbing for several weeks, according to UKHSA estimates, albeit they are still at relatively high levels. The primary cause of colds, rhinovirus infections, remained likewise constant following significant rises. While flu instances increased by 27% over the course of the week, they are still low as winter approaches, according to scientists.

The new figures show the number of people with respiratory symptoms testing positive for Covid in hospitals was 13.4 per cent in the week to last Sunday – compared to 13.3 per cent the previous week.

Meanwhile, the so-called positivity rate for rhinovirus was 17.1 per cent and for flu it was 1.9 per cent.

Positivity rates among hospital patients with symptoms are typically much higher than infection rates in the general population – figures which are not available for the UK outside of winter. But scientists say they give a good indication of trends.

 fast it looks set to become the UK’s dominant Covid strain this week, fuelling the current wave of the virus, experts predict.

XEC is thought to be significantly more contagious than the other variants and quickly grew to account for 21 per cent of UK infections on Saturday 28 September , according to the Gisaid Covid database.

As such, it is contributing to a double-whammy of colds and Covid infections and Australian data scientist, Mike Honey, has predicted XEC would be responsible for more than 50 per cent of new UK Covid cases by the end of this week, making it the country’s new dominant variant.

The new figures also showed that the rate of Respiratory infections from the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are soaring, albeit from a very low base.

The positivity rate for the virus more than doubled in the week to Sunday 6 October, from 0.7 per cent to 1.6 per cent – while hospital admissions jumped by 39 per cent to 0.39 per 100,000.

RSV is another common cause of coughs and colds that can occasionally be serious for infants and older people, where it can cause pneumonia and infant bronchiolitis.