England is seeing a curious leap in Covid-19 infections, with cases more than doubling in a month, and hospitalisations five-fold, the latest data shows.
Monthly infections are currently at 4,589 – their highest since October last year, with cases rising at an unusually accelerated pace.
While it’s usual for Covid to become more prevalent when the school autumn term begins, the jump this year is almost treble what it was in 2025.
What’s more, the true number of infections may even be far greater because the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) statistics come from NHS England’s reports on people who become very unwell with the virus.
This means thousands more people could be living with a milder form of the infection who have not been admitted or officially diagnosed.
The growth of the virus is said to be due to the variant currently circulating, which originated in South East Asia last year.
Known as XFG, or ‘Stratus’, it has been sweeping across North America and Europe since the end of 2025.
Covid cases and hospital admissions are surging at significantly higher rates than they did last Autumn, official figures show
GPs believe it could be behind the rising number of illnesses which, along with cold and flu, may put the NHS under pressure this autumn.
The UKHSA’s figures show that in August, 1,374 contracted Covid. In September this jumped 230 per cent to 4,589.
Meanwhile, a separate method of measuring the prevalence of Covid – whereby experts use test data to estimate the spread within the population – found 1.6 per cent of Covid tests came back positive.
At the end of September, this had jumped to more than eight per cent.
Over the same period in 2025, cases increased by around 63 per cent, though again the total number of cases were higher.
While there were 950 hospital admissions for Covid in August, the total jumped to 4,939 in September.
By comparison, admissions rose by around 61 per cent between August and September last year – though the total number of cases was higher.
Dr Renée Hoenderkamp, a family doctor in London, told the Daily Mail last week she’d seen more patients complaining of telltale symptoms of the specific strain.
These include sore throats, headaches, runny noses and fatigue.
‘In the past ten days to three weeks in general practice my lists have definitely changed to people with these symptoms,’ she says. ‘It’s definitely about.’
Dr Hoenderkamp said the strain is ‘flu-like’ and may be mistaken for the seasonal virus.
However, other doctors are also noticing patients presenting with gastrointestinal problems.
These may include diarrhoea, vomiting, a loss of appetite and stomach pain.
Experts have urged the public not to be alarmed by the rise in cases and hospitalisations.
Crucially, they still remain lower than last September, as well as the year previously – and far below the 4,000 daily admissions that NHS England saw in 2020.
While weekly deaths have doubled since early August, the latest data shows they are still only hovering at around 19.
Dr Alex Allen, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: ‘While Covid-19 activity has shown some recent increases, cases remain at low levels in the UK.
‘It’s completely normal for viruses to change over time. The strains currently going around, including those known as XFG, are closely related to strains that have been with us for over a year, so this isn’t something new.
‘We’re also not seeing any evidence that these are making people more ill or spreading faster than before, and this year’s autumn vaccine has been specifically designed to protect against them.
‘UKHSA is monitoring all the data relating to Covid-19 variants in the UK and abroad, and we continue to publish our findings in our regular surveillance reports.’
