Coronavirus cases in the UK have rocketed by around a million in a week, official data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.
The number of COVID-19 infections soared to 4.26 million in the seven days to 19 March, according to published figures - up 29.7% on the week before.
This is just short of the 4.3 million in the first week of 2022, which was the highest total since estimates began.
Over the week, cases of coronavirus rose to near record levels in England, while they have reached an all-time high in both Scotland and Wales.
Northern Ireland is the only nation where infections are thought to have fallen, with levels declining for two weeks in a row.
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Meanwhile, separate data showed the estimated range of England's COVID-19 reproduction or R number held steady at between 1.1 and 1.4, the UK Health Security Agency said.
It means that for every 10 people with the virus, they will on average infect between 11 and 14 others.
Although the estimate was unchanged from the previous week, the daily growth of infections was put at +3% to +6% compared to a previous estimated range of +2% to +6%.
Lifting of restrictions gives more opportunity for virus to spread
The more infectious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron is driving the current surge in infections.
And with all the legal restrictions lifted, the virus has lots more opportunities to spread.
The latest Office for National Statistics data shows the number of people in the UK with COVID last week rose almost 30% on the week before.
The week before that the rise was just under 26%.
The prevalence is up in every part of the UK, apart from Northern Ireland where the virus seems to have hit a wall of immunity and cases are falling sharply.
The disease is rising in every age group – bad news for parents who will have to take more time off to look after their children, and for employers who will see a rise in staff absence.
Whether the high prevalence in people over 70 – one in 20 had COVID last week – leads to more seriously ill patients is yet to be seen.
Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows hospital admissions in the over 75s are now higher than they were at the peak of the Omicron wave at the start of the year.
But the health secretary has said 60% of people testing positive in hospital are being admitted to treat other conditions, not COVID.
The virus is incidental to their reason for going to hospital.
That is certainly good news.
But it means the other 40% are there because of COVID and it underlines the need for people over 75 to book a spring booster dose of the vaccine to top up their immunity.
How long will this surge go on for?
The head of the UKHSA told Sky News last week that it would likely be short-lived – as it was in countries like Denmark and the Netherlands.
With high rates of population immunity, the virus will run out of road.
And perhaps there is a glimmer from the daily dashboard data that the surge is already beginning to slow and even level off.
In parts of the UK daily cases look to be falling.
It’s very tentative, and the lower rates of testing make the dashboard less reliable these days.
But additional data over the coming days will give us a bit more certainty on what the virus is up to.
The sharp rise in cases across much of the UK is due to the Omicron BA.2 variant, a more transmissible form of Omicron, the ONS said.
The latest data will be seen as further evidence that COVID-19 is rapidly becoming more prevalent in the UK with the lifting of legal restrictions and comes as the number of people in hospital with the virus continues to increase.
In England, around one in 15 people in private households are estimated to have had COVID in the week to 19 March, or 3.5 million people - up from one in 20, or 2.7 million people, in the week to 12 March.
In Wales, the estimate is up from 125,400 people, or one in 25, to 192,900 people, or one in 16.
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Scotland has seen infection levels rise for eight weeks in a row and they have now reached a new record high, with nearly half a million people (473,800) estimated to have had COVID-19 last week, or around one in 11.
This is up from 376,300 people, or one in 14, the previous week.
In Northern Ireland 108,700 people were likely to have had COVID-19 last week, or one in 17 people - down from 130,600 people, or one in 14.
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2022-03-25 14:26:15Z
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