One in 20 people were infected with Covid at Christmas, data shows

One in twenty people were infected with Covid over the Christmas break, experts believe.

Cases are estimated to have doubled during December, just as the XBB.1.5 ‘Kraken’ variant began to sweep Britain. Analysts say almost 3million people had the virus in the festive week.

Experts fear the strain, labelled the most transmissible yet, will drive the outbreak and spark even more chaos on the NHS in the coming weeks.

The ailing health service is already being battered by its worst flu outbreak. Winter pressures have sparked calls for a return of pandemic-era measures like face masks and mass testing.

Michelle Bowen, head of health surveillance dissemination and strategy at the ONS, said: ‘Infections have risen across the whole of the UK.

‘In England, Wales and Scotland, cases are at the highest they have been since July 2022, and the highest they have been since March 2022 in Northern Ireland.

‘Across English regions, infections have increased in the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, the East Midlands, the East of England, the South East and the South West. Cases have also increased in those aged 2 years to school Year 6, and those aged 50 years and over.

‘We will continue to monitor the data closely.’

The graph shows the weekly hospital admissions per 100,000 people for Covid (red) and flu (blue). UK Health Security Agency surveillance figures showed Covid admissions feel from 12 to 11 per 100,000 people, while admissions fell to 8 per 100,000 in the week to January 1

NHS data shows 995 people, on average, infected with Covid were admitted to hospitals across England in the week to January 2. The figures suggest that the number of people seeking NHS care due to the virus, on average, peaked on December 23 (1,154) and has been trending downwards since