COVID Variant Named After Greek Goddess Spreading Across UK

Congregating together in one place due to bad weather encouraging people to spend more time indoors as well as the release of popular films Barbie and Oppenheimer encouraging

people to pile into cinemas has been blamed for a rise in Covid cases, which official figures show have increased. Waning immunity is also likely to mean infection can be passed on more easily.

According to report, new COVID variant named after a Greek goddess is believed to spreading across the UK, becoming the second-most dominant variant of the virus.

Experts have said the recent increase is no immediate cause for alarm but said that people should remain vigilant about the virus.

Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) found that 5.4% of tests on people with a respiratory illness in the last week were found to be COVID - up from 3.7% the week before.

The overall COVID-19 hospital admission rate also rose to 1.97 per 100,000 population, up from 1.17 per 100,000 in the previous week.

But despite that, ICU admission rates have decreased to 0.05 compared to 0.07, the UKHSA said.

Prof. Christina Pagel tweeted that while the UK was now "Definitely" in a new wave, it was unlikely to be as large as previous ones.

But she warned September would likely see a bigger surge as people return from holidays, schools reopen, and workers head back to the office.

Prof Pagel added: "We could of course spend the summer improving indoor air quality in schools, public buildings, workplaces, restaurants, bars, etc which has all sorts of benefits beyond Covid + plan a broader winter booster campaign, but sadly the govt seems to have given up."

The increase in COVID cases is being attributed to a wave of the Eris variant, also known as EG.5.1 - a relative of the omicron strain, which currently accounts for 12% of sequences in the UK.

One in seven coronavirus cases in the country is now down to Eris, which was first raised as a concern in July by the UKHSA and is one of the variants being monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, told MailOnline: "Poor weather over the last month has meant more indoor mixing including during various events such as university degree congregations and increased cinema attendance."

The elderly continue to have the highest hospital admission rates, UKHSA data showed, with admission rates for those 85 and over increasing to 20.49 per 100,000 from 9.8 per 100,000, while rates among those aged 75 to 84 years increased to 9.45 per 100,000 from 5.54 in the previous report.

Read more: Six European countries issue warning over soaring temperatures: 'No time to waste'

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: "We continue to see a rise in COVID-19 cases in this week’s report. We have also seen a small rise in hospital admission rates in most age groups, particularly among the elderly.

"Overall levels of admission still remain extremely low and we are not currently seeing a similar increase in ICU admissions. We will continue to monitor these rates closely."

She added: "The NHS will be in contact in autumn 2023 when the seasonal vaccine is available for those who are eligible due to health conditions or age, and we urge everyone who is offered to take up the vaccine when offered," she added.