European countries including the UK are experiencing a surge in Covid-19 hospital admissions.

this has been driven by sub-variants of the highly infectious Omicron strain, along eith opening up of festivities including the jubilee.

threatening a fresh global wave of the disease. The immunity levels have naturally begun to wane and pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Rising admissons in several countries including France. UK and portugal

The BA.5 variant of Omicron now accounts for more than 80 per cent of new infections.

In Germany, the share of Covid-19 infections ascribed to BA.5 doubled at the end of last month.

Experts warn that the widespread scaling back of testing and surveillance may be compromising the ability of countries to spot new mutations and react quickly. They fear this could lead to waves later in the year that will put pressure on health systems and potentially prove harder to contain.