Covid deaths soar 25 per cent as XEC variant hits and NHS says isolate with symptoms

Health officials have revealed that the levels of Covid patients in hospital has risen with deaths up more than 25 per cent. Scientists are conducting tests to see the potential dangers of the XEC variant.

Doctors have reported that levels of respiratory viral infections such as colds, flu and Covid are soaring as the nation has come down with the ‘lurgy’. In a new update the UK Health Security Agency said that positive testing rates had risen to 14.6% compared to 13.5% in the previous week. This is based on a percentage of people who test positive in hospital settings

COVID-19 hospitalisations rose slightly to 4.64 per 100,000 compared to 4.46 per 100,000 in the previous week. This has gone up from 3.72 per 100,000 two weeks ago showing a sharp rise.

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Cases are up 17.8% to 3,496 in the seven days to October 9. In the latest week where figures are available to October 4 there were 163 deaths - up 27.3%.

There are 2,622 patients in hospital in the latest figures with Covid, up six per cent with 68 Covid acute respiratory incidents reported. Positive test rates were highest in those aged 85 or more years, at a weekly average positivity rate of 23.7%, an increase from the previous week.

The highest hospital admission rate is currently in the North East at 8.91 per 100,000. Those aged 85 years and over had the highest hospital admission rate, which remained stable at 52.65 per 100,000 compared with 51.28 in the previous week

Up to the end of week 41, 8.5% of those under 65 years in a clinical risk group and 24.7% of all people aged over 65 years old, who are living and resident in England had been vaccinated with an Autumn 2024 booster dose.

Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, previously said: “If you’re eligible to get vaccinated against the three main winter threats – COVID-19, flu and RSV – now is the time to take them up and get winter strong.

“We understand people may be concerned about new variants. Our surveillance shows that where covid cases are sequenced, around 1 in 10 are the ‘XEC’ lineage. Current information doesn’t suggest we should be more concerned about this variant but we are monitoring this closely. The most important thing to do is to get your vaccination as soon as possible if you’re eligible.

“If you are showing symptoms of flu or COVID-19 such as a high temperature, cough, and feeling tired and achy, try to limit your contact with others, especially those who are vulnerable.”

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While isolation rules are no longer mandatory, the says you should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days after the day you took your test. Further to this, you should avoid contact with vulnerable people 10 days after testing positive.

The new strain, called XEC, was first detected in Germany in June but has since hit the UK, Denmark and the United States. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine at the University of California, explained that it mirrors many of the symptoms displayed by other variants. Those who are struggling with a , cough, body aches, fever and loss of sense of smell and appetite could have XEC.

The strain, which is a subvariant of Omricon, is rapidly spreading across Europe and experts believe that vaccines should offer a similar type of protection against it developing into a severe illness. Gandhi issued her verdict on how serious the variant is and said: “There is no evidence that the symptoms caused by [new variants] differ from the symptoms caused by other subvariants.

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“The symptoms seem to be the same as with other recent subvariants of Omicron.” She added: “I am not very concerned about the new variant because COVID-19 is not an eradicable virus (it is found in too many animal reservoirs for one thing, with rapid evolution in animals such as deer) so we will always see new subvariants.”

Symptoms

Symptoms of XEC are thought to be similar to other strains of Covid and can include:

• A high temperature or shivering (chills) – a high temperature means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• A new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
• A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling tired or exhausted
• An aching body
• A headache
• A sore throat
• A blocked or runny nose
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhoea
• Feeling sick or being sick

What to do if you have Covid symptoms

Even if you don’t take a Covid test, the NHS has recommended that you try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have symptoms and either:

• Have a high temperature
• Or do not feel well enough to go to work, school or do your normal activities.

“You can go back to your normal activities when you feel better or do not have a high temperature,” the NHS says on its website. “If your child has mild symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat or mild cough, and they feel well enough, they can go to school or childcare.”