A FURTHER 226,524 Brits have tested positive for Covid over the last three days, government data has revealed.
It comes as Health Secretary Sajid Javid today urged Brits to treat the virus ‘like the flu’.
He previously calmed Brits and said that the rise in cases seen over the last few weeks had been expected after the remaining restrictions were lifted.
Omicron is a milder strain of the virus, with studies showing it is less deadly than the Delta and Alpha strains that have come before it.
Vaccines are still the best way to protect yourself from severe complications and millions of Brits are now able to get their spring booster shot from today.
This morning Mr Javid said scientists are working on plans to give all over-50s an extra booster jab this Autumn.
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The update today from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed that 226,524 people tested positive over Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
That means that on average 75,508 people tested positive on a daily basis.
The update today also revealed that, sadly, a further 169 people lost their lives over the last three days, 28 days after confirmation of a positive test.
This equates to around 56 people a day losing their lives.
Deaths have remained stable in the last few weeks, but hospital admissions have risen slightly.
The spring booster campaign will aim to keep the most vulnerable in society safe.
Javid today hinted that another vaccine rollout is being considered as he urged Brits who catch the virus to act like they have flu.
Covid tests will cease to be free on April 1, and Javid said that people should still be sensible – but that it would be down to the individual to make the right choice.
He said: “Post-April 1 if people have Covid symptoms, then they should just behave sensibly – like you would expect someone to really behave if they had flu symptoms in the past – and that is to socialise a bit less, stay indoors and and wait till you feel better,” he said.
Javid said there was a “need to step back and think about how we learn to live with Covid and focus on our very best form of defence and that’s the vaccination programme”.
DON’T PANIC
On Friday the R rate was between 1.1 and 1.4 and despite the rise in cases, Javid and experts alike have urged people not to panic.
Dr Simon Clarke, of Reading University said that the BA2 variant, which is now dominant in the UK ‘isn’t killing a lot of people’.
He said: “I don’t think we should be panicking because it’s not filling up intensive care wards, which are the NHS’s real bottleneck.
“It’s the sub-variant of Omicron, BA.2, which is causing a lot of the problem but it doesn’t appear to be killing a lot of people.
“Removing restrictions makes it easier for the virus to spread and you could argue the new variant is making it worse but I think it would have happened anyway.
“We shouldn’t ignore the problems this can cause vulnerable people but you can’t expect people to change their lives radically without a real reason.
“People tend to pay most attention when it gets really bad.”
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Javid highlighted that there currently isn’t another variant of concern that is an issue.
He added that there is ‘nothing in the data that gives us any cause for concern’.
