Covid-19: UK cases continue to rise amid warnings of impact of schools reopening

The numbers of covid cases, hospitalisations, and deaths are continuing to rise across the UK, the latest figures have shown. In England, 200 705 people tested positive for covid-19 in the week to 18 August, up 5% on the previous week and the highest figure since the week to 21 July, figures published by NHS Test and Trace on 26 August showed.1

In Scotland—where schools have restarted after the summer holidays—a record 5021 daily cases were recorded on 25 August.2 “Undoubtedly the gathering of people together in schools will have fuelled that to some extent, and you can see that in the proportion of younger people who are testing positive,” said John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first …