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As UK battles Omicron wave, 1 in 15 infected with COVID-19 in England

WION Web Team
LondonUpdated: Jan 06, 2022, 01:34 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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The UK has eased testing rules for travelling into England even as British PM Boris Johnson told parliament that COVID-19 cases have been increasing at the fastest rate ever.

As the UK continues to report nearly 200,000 COVID-19 cases a day, Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that one in 15 people were estimated to have been infected with COVID-19 until December 31 in England.

ONS data revealed an estimated one in ten people in London had tested positive for coronavirus.

"COVID-19 infection rates continued to increase across all age groups in England with the highest rates still seen in school-age children and young adults," ONS said. 

The UK has eased testing rules for travelling into England even as British PM Boris Johnson told parliament that COVID-19 cases have been increasing at the fastest rate ever.

The UK prime minister informed that hospitalisation was increasing among older age groups.

"I'm confident that we can get through this wave of Omicron with the measures, with the balanced and proportionate approach that we are taking," PM Johnson told UK lawmakers.

Watch: Omicron cases surge across Europe

The UK has eased testing rules for people travelling to England from Friday onwards. Fully vaccinated travellers coming to the UK do not have to take a pre-departure test and from Sunday onwards travellers can take a lateral flow test rather an RT-PCR.

However, unvaccinated passengers will have to take the pre-departure tests and PCR tests on day two and day eight, and self-isolate for ten days.

UK is one the worst-hit countries with the virus recording nearly 150,000 fatalities and more than 11 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.

After the arrival of the Omicron variant in late November last year, the country witnessed a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"Now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact on the growth in cases while continuing to pose significant costs on our travel industry," PM Johnson told Parliament.

(With inputs from Agencies)