Cold weather has sparked fears a new Covid variant could result in the UK’s largest-ever wave of infections.
Experts raised concerns after one in 16 people were infected in London in mid-December, which was the hardest hit area of the UK.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data revealed that Covid rates doubled in less than a fortnight when the new Juno strain arrived in Britain.
Warnings of a heavy wave of infections come following increased social mixing around the Christmas period and a return to schools amid a backdrop of freezing cold weather in parts of the capital.
However experts are unsure exactly how prevalent Covid is due to natural delays in surveillance activity.
The UKHSA estimated that 4.3 percent of people were infected across England on December 13, in comparison prevalence peaked at 7.6pc in the week to April 2, 2022, when Omicron was rife in the country.
Despite vaccines ensuring Covid is no longer the threat it was when it first arrived in 2020, thousands are still being hospitalised with the virus each day.
The potential surge in cases comes as the NHS is overloaded with spikes in flu and other seasonal bugs, with norovirus and RSV hospitalisations hitting their highest levels since the pandemic began in the final week of 2023.
Professor Christina Pagel an Independent SAGE and data scientist at University College London, told the i that infection levels in January could rival previous peaks of infection and could exceed them.
She said: “England’s largest ever wave in March and April 2022 – peaked four weeks after it reached 50 per cent of cases.
“So unfortunately it is likely that this JN.1 wave has not yet peaked and will peak mid-January, either next week or the week after.
“And then infections will stay very high for a few weeks on the downward slope too.
“I am sure this wave will rival the first two Omicron waves in 2022 and might even exceed them.”