Covid infections continue to rise across the UK

An estimated 2.7 million people, or one in 25, have the virus - a rise of 18% on the week before. About one in 30 had the virus in the previous week.

The rise is being driven by fast-spreading sub-variants of Omicron - called BA.4 and BA.5.

People can be infected even if they have had Covid before.

Health officials are urging anyone who has not had a vaccine or booster in the past six months, to get one - particularly people over the age of 75, who are more at risk from serious disease.

In the week ending 29 June, the ONS estimates Covid rates were:

The stats are collated by testing thousands of people from UK households - whether or not they have symptoms - to estimate how much virus is around.

Sarah Crofts, who works on the ONS's Covid-19 infection survey, said there was a continued rise across all UK countries, English regions and age groups.

She added: "Scotland continues to have the highest infection rate, although it has recently increased at a slower rate compared to other UK countries. We will continue to monitor the data to see if this recent rise is starting to slow in Scotland."