UK weekly COVID-19 infections rise, booster jab programme announced

An estimated 3.5 million people in Britain had COVID-19 in the latest week of available data, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday, up nearly 30% on the 2.7 million recorded in the previous week. Separately, the government announced that a new COVID booster jab programme would begin later this year. 'The percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to increase across the UK,' the ONS said. 'These increases were likely caused by increases in infections compatible with Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.'