COVID cases are up by a third in a week, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics estimates one in every 30 Brits is now infected.
A total of 2.3million people across the UK tested positive last week compared with 1.7million a week earlier.
New strains of the Omicron variant are driving numbers back towards record highs and causing a rise in hospital admissions.
ONS Covid expert Sarah Crofts said: “Across the UK we’ve seen a continued increase of over half a million infections likely caused by the growth of BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
“This rise is seen across all ages, countries and regions of England.
READ MORE ON COVID-19
“We’ll continue to monitor the data closely to see if this growth continues in the coming weeks.”
ONS figures put infections last week at 1.8million in England, 288,000 in Scotland, 106,000 in Wales and 71,000 in Northern Ireland.
Patients in hospital with the virus in England rose to 8,928 from 6,401 a week ago.
Another report made Covid the top cause of death for the second year in 2021.
