Covid infections rise across the whole of the UK and show 'no signs' of decreasing, new figures show

Covid infections continue to rise across the whole of the UK and show "no signs" of decreasing, according to new figures.

The number of people who tested positive for coronavirus jumped by nearly 800,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

The ONS said infections show no signs of decreasing, and that infection rates had increased among all age groups.

A total of 3.5 million people in private households are estimated to have had Covid last week, up 29% from 2.7 million the previous week. This is the highest estimate for total infections since mid-April, but is still below the record high of 4.9 million that was reached at the end of March.

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The latest figures come from the Office for National Statistics' weekly Coronavirus Infection Survey, which was published on Friday.

The new data looks at infections for the week ending July 6 for England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, and the week ending July 7 for Scotland.

Scotland had the highest rate of infection out of all the Home Nations. Around 1 in 16 people tested positive - 5.86% of its population.

Wales had the second highest, with 183,500 people estimated to have tested positive - about 6% of the country's population.

1 in 17 people tested positive in Northern Ireland, which had 107,600 cases.

In England, there were 2,873,600 positive tests - around 1 in 19 people.

Earlier this month, the UK Health Security Agency warned that hospital admissions with Covid were likely to rise.

Nearly 3 million adults in England have not yet received a single dose of Covid vaccine.