Stealth Omicron: 15 areas of England with highest rates of contagious BA2 coronavirus variant

These 15 areas in England have recorded the highest rates of Stealth Omicron infections in the last week.

Infections from the highly contagious ‘Stealth Omicron’ coronavirus strain are surging across England.

The Omicron subvariant, officially called BA.2, now represents almost all cases in some parts of the country, analysis of new research shows.

The Wellcome Sanger Institute analysed more than 41,000 Covid tests from the week ending March 12, taken from every part of England.

Its results show that across the country, 84% of samples were BA.2, 10 percentage points greater than the week before when 74% of samples were found to be the subvariant.

Here we reveal the 15 areas of England which have recorded the highest proportion of Stealth Omicron infections in the last week.

Images are for illustrative purposes only.

BA.2 is the dominant strain of coronavirus in England

BA.2 is the dominant strain of coronavirus in England

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