UK sees8k8 17 surge in COVID-19 cases

Britain on Sunday noted its highest number of novel coronavirus cases in a single day since May with 2,988 positives reported in government data.

One public health expert warned that this means there would be more hospitalizations, but expected that death rates would be less "dramatic" than previously seen.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today program on Monday, Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said: "We have better treatments and doctors have better clinical ways of managing patients and have learned how to improve survival.

"The good news is I think deaths will continue to fall but I think hospitalizations will continue to be challenging if these numbers continue and restrictions aren't brought in place to try to bring it under control."

The new data disclosed two further deaths within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total number of fatalities in the United Kingdom to 41,551. Overall, since the start of the pandemic, 347,152 cases have been confirmed in the UK.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock renewed calls for more vigilance on social distancing, saying he was "concerned" about the latest single day figure, which is the highest daily total since May 23.

Hancock added that the new positive tests were mainly among younger people, but warned that this could lead to a rise across the population as a whole, noting this has happened elsewhere in Europe.

In the weeks after France and Spain saw increases in infections among younger adults, there were a higher number of admissions to hospitals for older and more vulnerable patients, BBC News reported.

It is unclear what has caused the surge, though officials have stressed in recent days that the increase in cases has come amid a rise in the number of tests carried out each day.

In a previous interview with Sky News on Sunday, Sridhar warned the return of schools, along with the effort to get workers to return to offices, risked overwhelming the test and trace system.

"What we've seen in Scotland over the past few weeks is the testing system has just been really having to race to catch up with the demand of all the children coming home with coughs and colds and fevers."

She added: "If you add on top of that all the adults going back into offices, and having those as well, your testing system is really under strain."

Paul Hunter, an expert in outbreak response at the University of East Anglia, told the BBC the nation can expect further increases over coming weeks.

He said: "Sadly, it is beginning to look like we are moving into a period of exponential growth in the UK epidemic."