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Public Health England (PHE) has published its latest weekly national influenza and COVID-19 surveillance report.
Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, said:
“This week we’ve seen infections down, up, and with PHE’s latest data down again corresponding with what has been seen from daily test results.
“Overall, we are seeing chaotic datasets that reflect a lot of different things going at the same time, likely a combination of school summer holidays, hot weather, and the lifting of restrictions. Hopes have been pinned on the overall trend heading downwards, but a few days infection numbers here or there are in no way a reliable way to predict what the future holds.
“Confident assertions that infection trends will definitely head in a certain direction ignore the last 18 months where trends can turn ‘on a dime’, and while vaccinations are clearly having an impact on reducing the worst effects of Covid, we still have one fifth of the population unvaccinated and possibilities of future variants trying their best to get round our defences. The only current certainty is that the future remains uncertain.”
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