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.
1. South Bucks
In South Bucks 97.0% of samples tested positive for Stealth Omicron. In total 32 samples tested positive. | Shutterstock
2. Rossendale
In Rossendale 96.3% of samples tested positive for Stealth Omicron. In total 26 samples tested positive. | Shutterstock
3. Barrow-in-Furness
In Barrow-in-Furness 95.9% of samples tested positive for Stealth Omicron. In total 47 samples tested positive. | Shutterstock
4. Brentwood
In Brentwood 95.2% of samples tested positive for Stealth Omicron. In total 59 samples tested positive. | Shutterstock