Euro 2024 could be behind a summer Covid wave, according to a top scientist.
Experts warned a summer wave is “building” after hospital admissions rocketed by a quarter in a week. Boffins reckon the reason for the rapid spread of the virus could be vast crowds of fans meeting up to watch England’s matches.
Most cases are of a `Flirt’ variant known as KP.3.
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Professor Mark Woolhouse, an infectious disease epidemiology expert at the University of Edinburgh and former adviser to the Government on Covid-19, said the rise appeared to be coinciding with the football tournament just as it did in 2021.
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“The surveillance of Covid cases in the UK is far less intensive than it once was so it is difficult to track the rise and fall of waves of infection, to assess the severity of different variants, or to know how effective the vaccines are against them,’’ he said.
“Even so there is a widespread impression of a growing 2024 summer wave, much as we saw in 2021 when there was also a Euros football tournament, and evidence that this contributed significantly to the spread of infection.’’
Millions have gathered in pubs, restaurants, fan zones and house parties to watch England’s four matches on prime time TV.
Up to 20 million are set to tune into Saturday’s quarter-final against Switzerland.
(Image: Getty Images)
The number of people hospitalised with Covid was 3.31 per 100,000 in the week ending June 16, up from 2.67 the week before.
Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiology expert from the University of East Anglia, said the depressing reality is Covid is now going to be part of everyday life.
He added: “We are all of us going to get repeated Covid infections from birth through to death.
“To be honest, you can’t really avoid it because it’s so common.”
The government’s latest advice has gone back to a five-day isolation period for anyone who tests positive for Covid.
Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal urged: “If you are showing symptoms of Covid-19 or flu, help protect others by staying at home and avoiding contact with other people, especially those who are more vulnerable.”
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