Coronavirus cases in England are on the rise, with the number of people testing positive for the virus leaping by 18% in just one week.
There were 191,771 new Covid infections recorded in the seven days to September 22, up from 162,400 a week earlier, Test and Trace figures show.
That is the biggest week-on-week rise since mid-July, although cases remain well below the levels seen during the second wave of the pandemic.
Cases peaked at 390,280 in the week to January 6, when deaths were averaging 685 a day and few people had been vaccinated.
The most recent spike of infections saw positive tests hit 309,422 in the week to July 21.
About one in nine — 10.9% — of infected people transferred to Test and Trace last week were not reached by its staff and so did not provide details of recent close contacts.
That was down from 11.7% a week earlier. Meanwhile 75% of people tested at a local or mobile site received their results within 24 hours.
That was a fall from 87.3%the previous week, and is the lowest since the seven days to July 21.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pledged all in-person tests would be returned within the time-frame.
He told MPs in June ‘all tests will be turned around within 24 hours, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that’.
Late last month, infection rates started creeping up in adults aged 35 to 50 – suggesting children now back at school may be passing it on to their parents.
Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, told MailOnline the uptick in older groups was likely driven by infected children returning home from school.
He said: ‘It is likely they [Covid cases] have gone from children. Parents have protection from the vaccine, but we know the protection is not complete.’
Professor Gary McLean, a molecular immunologist from London Metropolitan University, said the spread could lead to a fourth wave.
He said: ‘The age groups children pass the virus on to, they’re more likely to be going back to work frequently or going out where there is no social distancing, spreading it among themselves.’
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