COVID-19 infections rising exponentially in England, doubling every 11 days

The United Kingdom registered 11,007 new daily coronavirus infections on Thursday, surpassing 10,000 for the first time since late February, due to the rise of the Delta variant. 

According to a new study, the number of patients infected with the coronavirus is fast expanding in England, doubling every 11 days, which correlates with the Delta version of COVID-19 becoming prominent in the country. 

According to new statistics from the Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) research, based on nearly 110,000 home swab tests conducted between May 20 and June 7, 0.15 per cent of people, or around 1 in 670, carry the virus.

This represents a 50 per cent increase over the study's previous findings, which showed that 0.1 per cent of people, or 1 in 1,000, had the virus as of May 3rd.

The scientists of the Imperial College London, believe that the reproduction number (R) in the most recent testing cycle was 1.44. This indicates that on average, 10 infected people will spread the virus to 14 others, resulting in a rapid spread of the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, a leading UK government health official has stated that the world would only be free of COVID-19 once the entire global population has been vaccinated. 

The vaccinations are believed to be quite efficient at avoiding serious illness caused by the variants.

However, there is concern that escalating case numbers will result in death tolls similar to earlier waves, which have claimed the lives of 127,945 people.

According to a government report released on Thursday, infections are "increasing exponentially" across England, driven by primarily unvaccinated young people. 

(With inputs from agencies)