Dr Hilary Jones explains nine new symptoms of Covid

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The latest coronavirus figures emerging from the UK are stark. While free testing has now been scrapped, it appears that confirmed cases might be decreasing – but a look at the numbers of deaths and hospitalisations shows that is certainly not the case.

In the last seven days, 1,109 people have died within 28 days of a positive test – that’s lower than the worst of the pandemic over Christmas 2020, but still a notable uptick since the beginning of this year.

And hospital figures are even more concerning, with 16,311 patients admitted with Covid in the past week.

The Office for National Statistics now estimates 4.9 million people in Britain are infected with Covid – if this is accurate, it is a record high.

Meanwhile, the WHO has warned of a new variant, ‘XE’, which is believed to be 10 percent more transmissible than the Omicron subvariant, BA.2.

XE is believed to only account for a small number of cases at present, but given its transmissibility, the WHO expects it to take over as the dominant strain across the globe.

In the report of its initial findings on the new variant, the WHO said: “The XE recombinant was first detected in the UK on January 19 and less than 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since.

“Early-day estimates indicate a community growth rate advantage of 10 percent as compared to BA.2, however, this finding requires further confirmation.”

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), 637 cases of XE had been detected as of March 22.

This is just a small fraction of total cases, but experts expect these to grow substantially – however, without free testing, it will be harder to monitor the situation accurately.

As cases rise and the new variant spreads, public health measures to control the spread of the virus have all but vanished.

In England and Northern Ireland, masks are no longer required in most public spaces.

Wales still sees them required in some indoor settings, as does Scotland.

So what do you think? Is it time for masks to become mandatory again as cases soar and testing plummets? Vote in our poll and join the debate in the comments below.

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