New Coronavirus News from 1 Apr 2022

Spain EXTENDS Covid restrictions over Easter holidays [Daily Mail, 1 Apr 2022]

By WILLIAM COLE

Spain has extended its Covid entry requirements until the end of the month - meaning it will affect Easter holidaymakers from the UK.

Until April 30, only fully vaccinated Brits or those who can show proof of recovery from Covid can enter the country.

The Spanish Ministry of Health also required all travellers from an EU/EEA risk country need to fill out the Health Control Form.

'If you come from a country at risk in relation to COVID-19, you must present a certificate or document proving vaccination, diagnostic test for active infection or recovery from COVID-19,' a statement of the ministry read.

Spain, one of the most popular holiday destination among Brits, was expected to relax the entry requirement at the end of March in a boost for Easter holiday travel.

But officials chose instead to extend the rules until the end of this month, which will come as a blow to anyone who now can't go away.

There are different rules for teens, as they don't need to be vaccinated to enter Spain.

Earlier this month Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, announced the end of all remaining coronavirus travel rules. Passenger locator forms and Covid tests were both scrapped on March 18.

Spain meanwhile is one of several European holiday destinations that has placed an expiration date on vaccines.

To enter, you must be able to prove you were fully vaccinated against Covid within the last 270 days.

If you received your second dose more than nine months ago, you must have had a booster jab to be allowed in.

Tourism officials said they expect international arrivals to reach 80 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes this year, as northern Europeans shrug off concerns over the Ukraine conflict and return en masse for Easter, a senior tourism official said on Friday.

'Easter isn't showing any direct impact from uncertainty caused by the conflict,' Secretary of State for Tourism Fernando Valdes said, adding that he was confident the industry would bounce back from the drop caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant in late 2021 and early 2022.

Any future hit from the war to Spanish tourism would depend on its duration and intensity, he told a news conference.

Bookings for the long Easter weekend have already reached 90 per cent of 2019 levels, according to data from market-intelligence firm ForwardKeys he showed at the news conference.

Reservations from Denmark and Sweden were nearly 40 per cent higher than over the same period before the pandemic, while the number is 26 per cent higher for Germans and 13 per cent for Britons, the data showed.

The number of tourists from the United States is around 26 per cent lower than in 2019.

The Balearic and Canary Islands are among the fastest recovering destinations, with Ibiza and Tenerife registering more Easter bookings than before COVID, the ForwardKeys data showed.

How to Prepare for BA.2, the Omicron Subvariant [The New York Times, 1 Apr 2022]

By Tara Parker-Pope and Knvul Sheikh

A New Wave of Covid-19 Is Coming. Here’s How to Prepare.

Taking these seven steps now can lower your risk and minimize the disruption to your family’s life.

The next wave of Covid-19 is coming, and in some parts of the United States, it’s already here. Are you ready?

The culprit this time is BA.2, a subvariant of the highly infectious Omicron variant. Nobody knows for sure how much havoc it will cause, but BA.2 has already led to a surge of cases in Europe and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the United States and around the world.

Researchers are tracking an uptick in cases in the United States, and they’ve detected a rise in the viral particles recovered from nearly 150 wastewater-surveillance sites. Because people can shed the coronavirus even if they never develop symptoms, pieces of the virus collected in wastewater can serve as advance warning several days before official case counts rise, said Bronwyn MacInnis, who directs pathogen genomic surveillance at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. Over the past two weeks, Dr. MacInnis’s group has seen a rapid increase in levels of the BA.2 subvariant in the Northeast.

“I don’t think we’re looking at a crazy lockdown scenario in this part of the world with BA.2,” Dr. MacInnis said. “But we can’t be sure that we won’t have another curveball from this virus in the future.”

American health officials have said they are hopeful that BA.2 won’t cause another major surge, in part because so many people were infected by the original Omicron wave this winter and most likely have at least some natural or vaccine immunity to protect them against severe illness and hospitalization.

But other variables could turn the BA.2 wave into a more damaging surge. One concern is that less than 70 percent of Americans over 65 have had a first booster shot, leaving a large group vulnerable, said Dr. Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in La Jolla, Calif. And for many people who got their booster shots in the fall, immune protection may be waning. Unvaccinated people who are counting on natural immunity from a previous infection by a different variant should know that BA.2 can easily sidestep those fading immune defenses.

And then there’s the question of whether pandemic fatigue will prevent some people from taking reasonable precautions, like wearing masks and social distancing, when Covid numbers start to rise in their area.

“We know how to manage it,” said Dr. Robert Wachter, a professor and the chair of the medicine department at the University of California, San Francisco. “But the big caveat will be that there are lots of parts of the country that will not go back into careful mode. It’s wishful thinking to believe we’re going to stay in a situation as good as we are in now.”

While the virus is unpredictable, there are clear ways to protect yourself. The plans you make now can lower your risk of exposure, minimize the disruption to the lives of your family and friends and help to assure you have access to treatments if you or someone you know becomes seriously ill.

Here’s what you can do to prepare.

Pay attention to Covid indicators in your community
Don’t wait for public health officials to issue warnings. Keep an eye on Covid-19 statistics for your county or region. An easy way to do this is to check the color-coded map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows community levels of Covid-19 around the country. The map is mostly a welcoming green right now, which means there are relatively low rates of new cases and hospital admissions. But there is a growing number of yellow spots, showing medium risk, in Texas, the Northeast and other areas, and orange-colored hot spots are cropping up in Montana, the Dakotas and other states, indicating high rates of community spread.

As the map shifts to yellow and eventually orange in your area, it’s time to take extra precautions, including donning masks in public spaces and rethinking large indoor gatherings where you don’t know the vaccination status of others.

If you want even earlier warning of Covid trends, you can bookmark the C.D.C.’s wastewater data tracker map.

Another useful indicator is your community’s positive test rate. Experts advise taking more precautions as you see positive test rates start to rise above 5 percent. The Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource center shows daily U.S. and state-by-state testing trends.

Have high-quality masks on hand
Even if you’re not wearing a mask now, check your mask supply and make sure you have plenty of high-quality medical-style masks on hand. A limited number of free N95 respirator masks are available at pharmacies and community centers. Enter your ZIP code on the C.D.C.’s mask locator to find a participating distributor near you. If you want to buy additional masks, use our guide to find a reliable supply of N95, KN95 or KF94 masks and avoid counterfeits.

Since many communities have lifted mask mandates, when and how often you use a mask is probably going to be up to you.

“The mask needs to go on when you start seeing case numbers going back up,” said Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech and one of the world’s leading experts on viral transmission.

Dr. Marr said she knows people are tired of masks, but wearing one is only a minor inconvenience and is a proven way to lower your risk. “I’m not into fear mongering, but there’s still so much we don’t know about long Covid that I don’t want to get Covid, and I don’t want anyone else to, either,” she said.

And the more people who wear masks as cases start to rise, the sooner the next wave will be over.

Order home Covid tests sooner rather than later
Each U.S. household is eligible for two sets of four home Covid tests free from the government; if you haven’t ordered them yet, get them now before the weather turns warm.

The tests can be damaged by heat, and you don’t want yours sitting for hours in a mail truck on a hot day.

“Now is better than a month from now, especially for people in hot locations,” said Dr. Michael Mina, chief science officer for eMed, a company that verifies at-home test results. “Just take advantage of the program, get them and put them in your cupboard for when you need them.”

People with insurance can also be reimbursed for eight free tests a month. If you develop respiratory symptoms, have a fever or just feel unusually fatigued, use a test on the first day of symptoms. If symptoms persist and you still test negative at home a few days later, you may want to get a lab-based PCR test to be sure.

“If you can afford it, test when you think you have allergies, test when you think you have a cold,” said Kelly Hills, a bioethicist and risk expert and co-founder of the consulting firm Rogue Bioethics. “This is one of those things I think people need to get in the habit of setting aside money for because tests provide important data for making decisions.”

Get a booster (when you’re eligible)
Federal regulators have authorized a second booster shot for everyone 50 and older. The agency also authorized a second booster for people 12 and older with certain immune deficiencies.

While scientists are still debating the value of another booster, most say that people 65 and older and the immune compromised are likely to benefit. If you haven’t gotten your first booster shot, experts agree you should get one now. If you’ve recently had Covid, you most likely have as much natural protection as you’d get from a booster shot — at least for a while.

The protective antibodies from a vaccine or an infection tend to wane in four or five months. A well-timed booster shot tells the body to bump up its antibody defenses and helps other parts of the immune system — like B cells and T cells — become better at remembering how to fight the virus, said Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at Rockefeller University in New York City.

Get a pulse oximeter
A pulse oximeter is a small device that clips on your finger and measures your blood oxygen levels. When levels drop to 92 or lower, patients should see a doctor. Low oxygen can be a sign of Covid pneumonia and may raise your risk for serious complications from Covid-19. The devices can be less reliable for people with darker skin, so pay attention to downward trends as well as the number.

A study from South Africa found that the risk of dying from Covid-19 was about 50 percent lower among patients who had been instructed to monitor their oxygen saturation at home.
You can find the devices for about $30 in pharmacies and online. (Researchers say the pulse oximetry reading on your Apple watch probably is less reliable than the fingertip device.)

Make a plan for antiviral drug treatment
Two oral antiviral therapies are available to treat Covid-19 in the United States, though they require a doctor’s prescription and are authorized only for people who may be at high risk of severe disease. One, called Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer, is taken as three pills twice a day for five days. It is available for high-risk patients 12 and older.

The second drug, called molnupiravir, was developed by Merck in partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It is taken as four pills twice a day for five days, and is available for high-risk adults 18 and older.

For the pills to be most effective, you need to start taking them within five days of the start of your symptoms, so it’s important to have a plan for getting a prescription and knowing which pharmacy can fill it, said Kuldip Patel, the senior associate chief pharmacy officer at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina.

You can use the Covid-19 therapeutics locator to track local supply of the drugs and check with your doctor to make sure you can receive the medication should you fall ill. (Some doctors are still declining to prescribe the drugs.) You can also look up qualified pharmacy-based clinics near you, as well as community health centers and long-term care facilities that have an authorized medical provider so you can get tested and, if positive, receive antiviral medication on the spot.

People who are immune compromised should also talk to their doctor about Evusheld, a drug from AstraZeneca that can be given by injection to provide an additional layer of protection on top of vaccines.

Have backup plans for social events and travel
If you have plans for a graduation party, wedding or other large event, it’s a good idea to have an outdoor backup plan if your community’s case numbers spike. If you’re planning to travel, do a little advance research into clinics and pharmacies at your destination so you know whether you can get antiviral drugs if you catch Covid-19 on your trip. Make sure you have extra funds or plenty of room on your credit card in case you need to extend your trip to recover from Covid. (You still need proof of a negative Covid test for international travel.)

Health experts said planning for the next wave of Covid shouldn’t disrupt your life or prompt you to cancel travel plans or time with friends and family. In fact, being prepared for the unexpected will allow you to keep living your life as normally as possible.

“A lot of people feel it’s a terrible inconvenience and they are sick of it, and I understand that,” said Dr. Topol, of Scripps Research. “We’ve had a time out, and it’s been good. But people should be ready to gear up if need be.”

Spain EXTENDS Covid restrictions over Easter holidays meaning only fully vaccinated visitors will be let in [Daily Mail, 1 Apr 2022]

By WILLIAM COLE

Spain has extended its Covid entry requirements until the end of the month - meaning it will affect Easter holidaymakers from the UK.

Until April 30, only fully vaccinated Brits or those who can show proof of recovery from Covid can enter the country.

The Spanish Ministry of Health also required all travellers from an EU/EEA risk country need to fill out the Health Control Form.

'If you come from a country at risk in relation to COVID-19, you must present a certificate or document proving vaccination, diagnostic test for active infection or recovery from COVID-19,' a statement of the ministry read.

Spain, one of the most popular holiday destination among Brits, was expected to relax the entry requirement at the end of March in a boost for Easter holiday travel.

But officials chose instead to extend the rules until the end of this month, which will come as a blow to anyone who now can't go away.

There are different rules for teens, as they don't need to be vaccinated to enter Spain.

Earlier this month Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, announced the end of all remaining coronavirus travel rules. Passenger locator forms and Covid tests were both scrapped on March 18.

Spain meanwhile is one of several European holiday destinations that has placed an expiration date on vaccines.

To enter, you must be able to prove you were fully vaccinated against Covid within the last 270 days.

If you received your second dose more than nine months ago, you must have had a booster jab to be allowed in.

Tourism officials said they expect international arrivals to reach 80 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes this year, as northern Europeans shrug off concerns over the Ukraine conflict and return en masse for Easter, a senior tourism official said on Friday.

'Easter isn't showing any direct impact from uncertainty caused by the conflict,' Secretary of State for Tourism Fernando Valdes said, adding that he was confident the industry would bounce back from the drop caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant in late 2021 and early 2022.

Any future hit from the war to Spanish tourism would depend on its duration and intensity, he told a news conference.

Bookings for the long Easter weekend have already reached 90 per cent of 2019 levels, according to data from market-intelligence firm ForwardKeys he showed at the news conference.

Reservations from Denmark and Sweden were nearly 40 per cent higher than over the same period before the pandemic, while the number is 26 per cent higher for Germans and 13 per cent for Britons, the data showed.

The number of tourists from the United States is around 26 per cent lower than in 2019.

The Balearic and Canary Islands are among the fastest recovering destinations, with Ibiza and Tenerife registering more Easter bookings than before COVID, the ForwardKeys data showed.

New guidance sets out how to live safely with COVID-19 [GOV.UK, 1 Apr 2022]

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has today published updated guidance to support the next stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As set out in the government’s Living with COVID-19 plan, the focus of this new phase is on protecting those who are most at risk from the virus.

A new set of guidance from UKHSA provides important public health advice for people with symptoms of respiratory infections, such as COVID-19; people with a positive COVID-19 test and their contacts; and advice on safer behaviours for everyone. UKHSA has also published a set of public health principles for businesses, organisations and employers to consider in managing the risk to their workforce from respiratory infections, such as COVID-19.

Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, said:
As we learn to live with COVID, we encourage people to keep following simple steps to help keep themselves and others safe.

The pandemic is not over and how the virus will develop over time remains uncertain. COVID still poses a real risk to many of us, particularly with high case rates and hospitalisations. That is why it is sensible to wear a mask in crowded, enclosed spaces, keep indoor spaces ventilated and stay away from others if you have any symptoms of a respiratory illness.

Vaccination remains the best way to protect us all from severe disease and hospitalisation. If you have not yet come forward for your primary or booster I would urge you to do so straight away – the NHS vaccine programme is there to help and the sooner you are vaccinated the sooner you and your family and friends will be protected.

People with symptoms of a respiratory infection
UKHSA guidance sets out that people with symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, and who have a high temperature or do not feel well, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with others. Those who are asked – or choose to test – and get a positive COVID-19 result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days following the day of their positive result.

There is some evidence that children have a shorter duration of illness compared to adults.

Children and young people who are asymptomatic, choose to take a COVID-19 test and receive a positive test result are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day of the test.

There will be some symptomatic testing available for certain high-risk groups and settings, including for those who are at highest risk of becoming seriously unwell and who are eligible for COVID-19 monoclonal antibody and antiviral treatments.

The guidance states that it is particularly important that a person with symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, avoids close contact with people whose immune system means that they are at higher risk of serious illness. If a person has tested positive for COVID-19 they should avoid those people who are at higher risk of serious illness for a 10-day period.

Anyone who needs to leave their home whilst they have symptoms of a respiratory infection such as COVID-19, or within 5 days following the day of their positive test, should take important precautions to minimise the chance of passing on their infection. Such precautions could include:
• wearing a well-fitting face covering or a face mask
• avoiding crowded or enclosed spaces such as public transport, large social gatherings and enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces
• exercising outdoors and away from others
• always remembering good hand and respiratory hygiene

Reducing the risks of spreading infection
Guidance also sets out actions for reducing the risks of spreading infection within the home, where someone has tested positive, or has symptoms of infection, and provides advice for those living in the home who will be close contacts. This is to help reduce the risk of them passing on infection.

For the wider population who don’t have symptoms of COVID-19, or other respiratory infection or a positive COVID-19 test, UKHSA advises some important and sensible public health behaviours that can help to reduce the spread of infections and protect those around them.
These include getting vaccinated, ventilating indoor spaces, wearing a face covering or mask in certain situations and keeping up good hand and respiratory hygiene – such as covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Recent evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron and wearing face coverings has previously been published by UKHSA.

UK's daily Covid cases fall AGAIN despite warnings that virus is more rife than ever [Daily Mail, 1 Apr 2022]

By LUKE ANDREWS HEALTH

UK's daily Covid cases fall by another 10% in sign resurgence could be over but top statisticians warn a pandemic-high 4.9MILLION people are infected... so how rife is virus in YOUR town?

Britain's daily Covid cases have now fallen for five days in a row, despite warnings that the virus is more rife than ever.

Government dashboard data showed another 69,811 infections were logged in the last 24 hours, which was down nine per cent on last Friday.

Deaths continued to rise, however, with 191 recorded today — up 11 per cent on the same time last week. Another 2,509 hospitalisations with the virus were also recorded on March 28, the latest date available, up 12 per cent in a week and the most since late December at the height of the Omicron wave.

But both are lagging indicators, because of the time it takes for someone who catches the virus to fall seriously ill.

The drop-off in cases follows from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimating that 4.1million people had the virus on any given day in England last week, the equivalent to one in 13 being infected.

The figure is the highest ever recorded — topping the previous peak of 3.7m at the height of the Omicron wave in January. It is also 18 per cent higher than last week.

In the most Covid-ridden towns of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, one in nine people were projected to have the virus in the week to March 26. And infections have soared to pandemic highs in all over-35s.

Britain's outbreak as a whole is also bigger than ever, with 4.9m now thought to be infected — up from 4.3m last week.

Statisticians said England's surge was being driven by the more transmissible version of Omicron, scientifically named BA. Although, ministers admit that ditching the final Covid restrictions last month also fueled the uptick.

Despite the mass testing project warning that cases show no signs of slowing yet, top scientists are hopeful that the worst may be over. Official numbers — reliant on people getting tested, as opposed to random swabbing — have been falling for a week, bolstering hopes that the virus was running out of steam.

Hospitalisations are still ticking upwards, but official figures suggest about half of admissions are now 'incidental' — when someone is admitted to hospital for something else such as a fall but then tests positive for Covid. NHS intensive care rates have barely budged, despite cases continuing to soar.

The record-breaking cases were revealed on the day England entered a 'new era' of the pandemic, with millions no longer able to get free Covid swabs to check whether they have the virus for the first time in a year.

Experts today argued the timing of the end of free testing 'couldn't really be worse', and that the country would now have to rely on the public 'doing the right thing' and getting tested when unwell. A chorus of gloomy Government advisers yesterday issued a string of new warnings about the pressure on the health service.

But ministers have insisted it is the 'right' moment to scrap the mass-testing regime, which cost No10 up to £2bn-a-month. Only the most vulnerable and health care workers are still able to get free swabs.

The ONS survey is seen as the gold-standard for tracking the pandemic by ministers because it relies on more than 100,000 random swabs, meaning it can reach groups which would normally avoid getting tested.

From today it has become England's main method for monitoring Covid outbreaks, with the universal testing offer coming to an end. But it lags about a week behind the situation on the ground.

Free Covid testing ends for millions in England
Free Covid tests officially ended for millions of people today as England ushered in the next stage of the post-pandemic era.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said now was the 'right' time to withdraw the universal testing offer and 'focus resources' on those who need it most.

He told the nation: 'We are one of the most open and free countries in the world now, and that's because of decisions that we've taken as a country.'

The Government website for ordering tests today displayed a message saying free Covid tests are now only available for certain groups. Most people will now have to purchase the swabs from high street stores, where they are available for about £2 each.

Yesterday NHS Test and Trace workers were pictured taking down the around 500 testing sites in the country.

England has ended its offer of free swabs under its plans to 'live with' the virus and following pressure from the Treasury over the bill — which ministers claimed cost £2billion in January at the height of the Omicron wave.

Scotland will end its offer next month, while Wales is to stop handing out the swabs this summer.

Yesterday NHS Test and Trace workers were pictured dismantling swabbing sites as the around 500 across the country begin to come down.

Results from the ONS survey also revealed infections have hit a record-high in Wales, where one in 14 people now have the virus (212,000 cases last week).

Scotland recorded the highest infection rate in the country with one in 12 having Covid (451,000), but this was down five per cent on last week's record.

Northern Ireland saw its cases rise 13 per cent to one in 15 being infected (123,000).

In England, all legal Covid requirements came to an end in February, although guidance to wear face coverings in crowded places and isolate when suffering symptoms or testing positive is still in place.

The same approach is in place in Northern Ireland.

And guidance is similar in Wales, after laws to wear masks and isolate after testing positive were scrapped on Monday. But people are still told to wear masks in health and social care settings.

But rules are stricter in Scotland, where laws set out that individuals must wear masks in shops, hospitality venues and on public transport. And infected people are still required to isolate for at least seven days.

Kara Steel, senior statistician for the ONS Covid survey, said: 'Infection levels remain high, with the highest levels recorded in our survey seen in England and Wales and notable increases among older age groups.

'The rapid rise continues to be fuelled by the growth of the Omicron BA.2 variant across the UK.

'We continue to closely monitor the data and remain thankful to all of our participants for their contribution.'

ONS statistics showed cases rose across all regions of England last week and among over-25s.
They reached record levels among over-50s, who are most vulnerable to the virus.

But in a sign the wave may be slowing cases plateaued among the under-25s, who have had the highest infection rates throughout much of the pandemic.

The figures — from the UK Health Security Agency — differ from the ONS in that they are based on the number of positive tests reported nationally, and that they are released every day rather than every week.

But they are a potential early signal that the current wave may already be slowing down.

So much for living with Covid! A QUARTER of people in England are still working from home
One in four Britons are still working from home despite WFH guidance being ditched two months ago, official data shows.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 26 per cent of people across the UK either worked from home for all or part of last week.

One in 10 were still exclusively doing their job from home, while 14 per cent travelled to work some days.

The poll suggests roughly 7.7million of the 29.7m workers in the UK are still operating from home at least part of the time, despite No10 trumpeting a massive back to work drive.

Britons were temporarily advised to pivot back to remote working in December when the Omicron wave surged across the country. It led to a third of employees working remotely.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted work from home guidance, Covid passes and face mask rules in England in January as part of the 'living with' the virus strategy.

Today marked the next step of the blueprint, with access to free virus tests now over for millions of people in England.

Yesterday the UK recorded 74,720 Covid cases, which was down almost a quarter in a week.
But the number of swabs carried out also fell slightly, while the positivity rate — the proportion of swabs that picked up the virus — remained flat.

Sir Patrick, the Government's chief scientific adviser, yesterday told MPs earlier today that 'infections are beginning to turn so we may be quite close to, or at, the peak and it may start coming down shortly'.

But other top scientists today warned the health service is under severe pressure and Britons should continue to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus, the day before free Covid tests for all is scrapped.

Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, told a conference: 'The waves are still occurring.' He added they will 'certainly' continue.

And Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), called for the nation to keep wearing face masks because infection rates are so high.

She said that Britons should be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'.

The record high ONS case rates come as the universal testing offer is dropped in England after it cost £2billion-a-month to run in January.

Professor Tim Spector from King's College London, who runs the Zoe Covid tracking app, said the timing of the end of free testing 'couldn’t really be worse'.

He warned England was now in a situation of 'having to rely on the public to actually do the right thing and get these tests themselves when they get sick'.

He told Times Radio that 'if we’re not having free testing, let’s have a clear policy on how you would know that you’re infected, and therefore you can self-isolate.

'To do that, the Government needs to admit that the symptoms of Covid have changed in the last two years, and that 80 per cent of people now present with cold-like symptoms.

'And there should be a public health campaign to say at the moment, when your chances of having Covid are greater than a cold…test if you can afford it – (and) even if you can’t – assume you’ve got Covid.'

Scotland is not ending its free testing offer until next month, while in Wales the swabs will be offered until July. There are no plans yet to end mass testing in Northern Ireland.

The ZOE Symptom study app estimated there were 349,000 new Covid cases every day over the week to 29 March.

Professor Spector said cases were continuing to soar to 'all time highs' but that the slowing in the rate of increase was a promising sign.

Seventy-four Britons have had Covid FOUR times
Dozens of Britons have caught Covid four times since the start of the pandemic, new data suggests.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed 74 people have tested positive four times since the start of April 2020.

Additionally, more than 8,700 people are thought to have been infected three times, and almost 800,000 Britons have caught the virus twice.

The latest figures on Covid reinfections come as England woke up to the next stage of its post-pandemic era, with free testing for the virus axed from today onwards.

From now on only NHS workers, care home staff and vulnerable patients will be eligible for free swabs under No10's 'Living With Covid' strategy, with hundreds of testing sites to be dismantled.

While Covid cases have declined over the past week, several top experts have urged people not to think of the pandemic as being over.

On Thursday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said people must 'learn to live with Covid' as campaigners criticised the end of free testing.

He told reporters: 'We are one of the most open and free countries in the world now, and that’s because of decisions that we’ve taken as a country… and it is right also as we learn to live with Covid that we withdraw free testing – universally… if it’s not needed any more, but we focus those resources on the people that need it most. And that’s what we’re doing.'

But Carers UK and the Alzheimer’s Society criticised the move, with the latter saying it 'risks gambling' with the lives of people living with dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Society has been campaigning to keep lateral flow tests free for all people visiting loved ones in care homes.

While free testing ends in England, it will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.

The most recent data shows there were 15,632 people in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of Wednesday, up 18 per cent week on week and the highest since January 19.

It comes as official data showed one in four Britons are still working from home despite WFH guidance being ditched two months ago.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 26 per cent of people across the UK either worked from home for all or part of last week.

One in 10 were still exclusively doing their job from home, while 14 per cent travelled to work some days.

The poll suggests roughly 7.7million of the 29.7m workers in the UK are still operating from home at least part of the time, despite No10 trumpeting a massive back to work drive.

Britons were temporarily advised to pivot back to remote working in December when the Omicron wave surged across the country. It led to a third of employees working remotely.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted work from home guidance, Covid passes and face mask rules in England in January as part of the 'living with' the virus strategy.

New Omicron variant XE found in UK but ‘too soon to say’ how contagious it is [The Independent, 1 Apr 2022]

by Matt Mathers

Hundreds of cases of ‘XE’ have been detected in England but experts still investigating level of risk

A new Covid variant has been found in the UK but experts say it’s too soon to know if it is more transmissible than previous strains.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSCA) said it was studying XE - a mutation of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron strains, referred to as a "recombinant".

The government body said that, as of 22 March, 637 cases of XE had been detected in England, only a small fraction of the tens of thousands of Covid cases being reported every day since restrictions were lifted.

Early growth rates for XE werenot significantly different from BA.2 - also known as ‘Stealth’ Omicron.

But using the most recent data up to 16 March 2022, it now had a growth rate 9.8 per cent above that of the stealth variant, the UKHSCA said.

The body cautioned though that "as this estimate has not remained consistent as new data have been added, it cannot yet be interpreted as an estimate of growth advantage for the recombinant."

"Numbers were too small for the XE recombinant to be analysed by region," the UKHSCA said.
Professor Susan Hopkins, the UKHSA's chief medical advisor transition lead, said that recombinant variants are not uncommon and usually die off "relatively quickly".

“This particular recombinant, XE, has shown a variable growth rate and we cannot yet confirm whether it has a true growth advantage," Ms Hopkins told The Sun.

“So far there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about transmissibility, severity or vaccine effectiveness.”

The UKHSA report added: “XE shows evidence of community transmission within England, although it is currently less than one per cent of total sequenced cases.”

A record number of people in the UK had Covid in the past week, according to official figures.

The Office for National Statistics said one in every 13 people - or 4.9 million - had the virus in the week ending 26 March. This is up from 4.3 million in the previous week.

Covid experts call for return of free tests as UK cases hit new high [The Guardian, 1 Apr 2022]

by Nicola Davis and Hannah Devlin

ONS survey estimates one in 13 people had coronavirus last week, with BA.2 variant fuelling rise
Covid has hit an all-time high across the UK, with almost 5 million people – one in 13 of the population – estimated to have the virus, according to the most recent official data, prompting experts to call for the return of free testing.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) came on the day the government ended free rapid tests for most people in England and as tens of thousands of people were hoping to embark on Easter holidays. Many will have to pay for a test to find out if they are infected, whether they are symptomatic or not.

While UK hospitalisations and deaths are also rising, these are not in line with the spike in infections, and scientists said they expect levels to fall sharply again in April and May.

Kara Steel, a senior statistician for the ONS survey, which estimated community cases in the week ending 26 March, said the growth of the Omicron variant BA.2 was fuelling the rapid rise. The removal of Covid restrictions and a shift towards pre-pandemic behaviour are also contributing.

BA.2 is more transmissible than the original Omicron variant, BA.1, but data suggests that while infection with BA.2 after an infection with BA.1 is possible, it is very rare – at least at present.

This means the latest Covid wave is, to a large extent, sweeping through people who were not infected in the previous Omicron wave and is likely to follow a short, sharp trajectory, as has been seen in Denmark and the Netherlands, scientists said.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: “I expect we’ll see rates falling quite rapidly through April and May and hopefully hospitalisations will start falling in the next week or so. Any infection that spreads rapidly peaks quickly and decreases rapidly on the other side.”

The Covid landscape is now very different from the early days of the pandemic: 68% of UK over-12s have had three doses of a Covid jab, and while vaccines have not severed the link between infections, hospitalisations and deaths, they have weakened it.

However, hospitalisations have reached record highs in Scotland in recent days, with 19,534 Covid patients on wards across the UK on Wednesday. While the proportion primarily being treated for coronavirus has fallen since the arrival of Omicron, both the numbers of people in hospital “with” and “because of” Covid are rising.

Dr David Strain, a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter medical school, said he was now seeing people testing positive with Covid for longer – meaning lengthier hospital stays and staff absences. Infection levels are rising at a time when vaccine-based immunity, particularly among older people, is waning, he warned.

Plans to end free lateral flow tests (LFTs) and other measures were made in the light of BA.1, but BA.2 has changed the picture, he said: “Until the [spring] booster programme can be implemented and evaluated, I think [it is] too early to be getting rid of free tests.” He said mask wearing should also return.

Speaking at a Royal Society of Medicine conference on Thursday, Prof Devi Sridhar, of the University of Edinburgh, also voiced disquiet about the end of free tests. “Looking at the next few months in Britain, we’re in a pretty good position compared to most countries in the world. [But] we’re still having a couple of hundred people die every day and letting testing go – I’m quite concerned about that.”

Dr Julian Tang, a clinical virologist at Leicester University, said he believed the mask mandate, surveillance studies and ongoing free testing could have been kept for longer – although he acknowledged other demands on resources and funding. “I think we probably have to ride this out – as part of learning to live with Covid-19 as it becomes more seasonal and endemic – as we do with seasonal flu,” he said.

Prof Andrew Hayward, co-director of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said that although LFTs have contributed to control, uptake had been patchy, meaning their removal was unlikely to make a major difference to overall rates.

But he added: “Lateral flow tests remain useful in high-risk settings such as health care and social care and … prisons and homeless venues. They also remain helpful as a means of protecting vulnerable contacts by testing before visiting, particularly during periods when infection levels are so high and of self-diagnosing symptomatic infection and isolating appropriately.”

According to the latest ONS data, based on swabs from randomly selected households, about 7.6% (one in 13) of the population in England had Covid in the week ending 26 March – the highest figure recorded by the survey since it began in April 2020.

Infection levels have risen across all regions of England, but were highest in the south-west, where 9.4% are estimated to have had Covid.

Infection levels have plateaued among children and young adults but continued to rise among those aged 25 and over, with about 6.6% of people aged 70 and over infected – a record high for that age group.

Infection levels remain high in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with about one in 12 and one in 15 people infected respectively, and have continued to rise in Wales, where they have reached one in 14 – the highest level since the survey began there in July 2020.

LFTs are now available from high street shops such as Boots and Tesco. A Guardian search of online marketplaces on Friday found little sign of individuals hoping to sell kits they got free from the NHS, as seen earlier in the year. Online marketplace eBay has previously said Covid tests were banned for sale on its site.

S.Korea likely to lift outdoor mask mandate, most COVID curbs this month [Reuters, 1 Apr 2022]

By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL, April 1 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Friday it would further relax its social distancing rules next week and possibly scrap most pandemic-related curbs later this month, including an obligation to wear masks outdoors.

From April 4, a curfew on eateries and other businesses will be pushed back to midnight from 11 p.m., and private gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said.

The decision is South Korea's latest step in easing anti-coronavirus measures, after scrapping vaccine mandates and a mandatory quarantine for vaccinated travellers arriving from overseas, despite an ongoing Omicron wave.

The government will look into removing restrictions, except for wearing masks indoors, if the daily caseload continues to fall and the medical system for severe patients is stably managed over the next two weeks, Kwon said.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 280,273 infections for Thursday, bringing the total tally to 13,375,818, with 16,590 deaths.

SATURATED CREMATORIES
Kwon said the wave had topped out since its mid-March peak when the daily count of cases had surpassed 620,000, though it is possible critical cases and deaths could rise further.

A recent surge in severe cases and deaths has saturated crematories and funeral homes nationwide.

To lessen the strain, the government will ease funeral regulations and lift a ban on burying COVID-19 victims, Kwon said.

South Korea has largely managed to limit deaths and critical cases through widespread vaccinations, and scaled back its once-aggressive tracing and containment efforts, though it still tests robustly.

Nearly 87% of the 52 million population are fully vaccinated, with 64% having received booster shots, according to the KDCA data.

Koreans now appear more ready to travel. Polls showed people are increasingly less worried about the impact of catching the virus, and see its prevention as out of their hands.