Two Covid strains spreading rapidly across UK as 'vaccine protection wanes'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The UK's rise in Covid-19 cases has been described as "extremely worrying" by an expert, who says the spread of two strains, lack of testing and waning efficacy of vaccines has led to the spike.Professor Denis Kinane, a world-leading immunologist and founder of Cignpost Diagnostics, says mandatory face masks must be reintroduced and has urged people to be careful when out in public, as the "troubling" increase of Covid-19 cases in summer is just the precursor to the "traditional autumn surge".

He says that infection rates are fast approaching 350,000 a dayProfesser Kinane added that the two of the most prevalent strains of the virus, Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, are able to re-infect those who have already had Covid and those who are have received all of their vaccinations because of immune escape - meaning they have been able to overcome immunity developed to protect against other strains.

Additionally, those who had their booster jabs in December and January will be more susceptible to the virus, because efficacy starts to "wane at three months" and the formula is not as "effective against emerging subvariants", the Mirror reports.Yesterday, we reported how the latest data released by the ZOE Covid Study showed that as of July 11 there have been 349,773 new daily symptomatic infections.

Infections rates are at their highest since April 2022 and are quickly expected to hit the 350,000 a day mark.These rates could be higher because free testing has ended and there is no requirement to test as well.