Free testing has ended on the day new figures reveal a record 4.9 million people in the UK had Covid-19 last week.
One in 13 people in England had the virus, latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest – up from one in 16 the week before.Scientists have warned the decision to scrap free tests for millions could drive transmission even higher.Health secretary Sajid Javid has insisted we must ‘learn to live with Covid’.Sir Patrick Vallance said earlier this week: ‘Testing in effect does three things.
‘I think there’s no doubt that if you massively reduce testing across the population, precautionary behaviours are likely to decrease at the same time, and that will then lead to increased transmission.He added new coronavirus variants could arise that are more severe than Omicron. The virus ‘hasn’t stopped evolving’ and is ‘in quite an unstable period’, he cautioned.
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