More than 2MILLION people in England had Covid on December 23

More than 2million people in England had Covid just before Christmas, official surveillance data suggested today amid warning signs that infections are now rising quickest in over-65s. 

The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) weekly report estimated one in 25 people had the virus on December 23, marking a 70 per cent surge in a week and the highest toll seen throughout the entire pandemic. 

Covid most prevalent in Omicron epicentre London, where one in 15 people were estimated to be infected over the festive period, followed by the South East and East of England at one in 30. 

The ONS analysis is based on random swab testing of tens of thousands of people across Britain and the results are inspected closely by ministers. But it only offers a glimpse of how widespread the virus is, meaning it won’t reveal whether cases have truly peaked in London, like official data suggests, for another few weeks. 

Separate Government statistics showed infections are now rising fastest and doubling every week among over-65s — the age group most vulnerable to the virus.

Experts today warned this would ‘directly feed’ into hospitalisations over the coming weeks and that a spike was ‘certain’. But they added that the booster drive, which has already reached 90 per cent of older adults, will give millions an extra layer of protection and help the NHS this winter.

The number of Covid-infected patients occupying beds in English hospitals is already above 11,000 for the first time since early February, illustrating the pressure the health service is already facing. And in London daily virus admissions have breached the 400-a-day threshold that could prompt No10 to adopt nationwide restrictions. 

NHS bosses today warned that the Government ‘needs to be ready to introduce tighter restrictions at real speed should they be needed’.

Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, said fresh curbs ‘may be needed at pace if the evidence warrants it’ as he said medics ‘still don’t know’ if there will be a surge in elderly hospitalisations, which could trigger Mr Johnson to act. But he admitted the threshold for taking action ‘hasn’t been crossed yet’. 

Despite admissions spiking to 11-month highs, the number of critically ill Covid patients remains flat. 

The ONS carries out weekly surveillance testing to estimate the prevalence of the virus across the home nations, not just England.

Their study is seen as the gold-standard for tracking the outbreak by ministers because it shows the true spread of the virus. Daily Covid infection numbers, which yesterday reached a record-high of almost 190,000, are reliant on people getting tested, and up to half of infected people don’t get swabbed. 

Across the four nations, cases were estimated to be rising fastest in Scotland, where they surged 70 per cent in a week from 76,200 to 135,400 people estimated to be infected on December 23.

This was followed by England and then Wales, where infections rose 40 per cent in a week to 76,500. In Northern Ireland they rose 26 per cent to 47,500 cases.

ONS estimates of cases by age groups showed they were rising in all age groups, and ticking up fastest among 25 to 35-year-olds. 

Statisticians said this matched testing data showing the virus was spreading fastest in this age group.

Separate figures from the Department of Health, which is based on people coming forward for tests, showed that rates are now rising quickest in over-65s, who are most vulnerable to the virus.

It publishes the infection rate for age groups broken down by five-year bands.  

Cases were rising fastest in 75-79 year olds, surging 143 per cent in a week from 137.9 to 334.9 cases per 100,000 people. 

But they doubled in size in all other over-65 age-bands, the same data showed. 

Cases were also rising in every age group except 10 to 14-year-olds.

Scientists have said high levels of immunity in this age group from previous infections should keep the virus at bay, although a lack of testing because of the school holidays could also be behind the figures.

The surge in infections in older age groups raise questions over whether the NHS could soon face an influx of admissions.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia, said it was ‘certain’ that there would be a spike in hospitalisations.

He told MailOnline: ‘The implications are clear that if infection rates continue to increase so quickly in the older age groups this will directly feed into higher hospitalisation rates from this age group.

‘But around 90 per cent of the over-65s have already had their booster dose so how high this increase will go is quite uncertain.’

He added: ‘I think it is absolutely certain that hospital admissions will spike. But the big questions are when will admissions peak and how high will they have got when they do.’ 

Latest data for hospitals in England shows there were more than 2,000 admissions on December 28, the latest available. This is the most since early February, and double the figure from a week before. 

Ministers have turbo-charged their booster drive and prioritised older groups in a bid to keep Omicron at bay, with scientists saying the jabs will provide an extra layer of protection.

And Boris Johnson claimed earlier this week that 90 per cent of Covid patients in intensive care had not received their booster jabs.

However, no figures have been published to back up this claim. Ministers today faced calls from Tory MPs to be transparent with their data. 

The Government publishes daily figures on Omicron hospitalisations, but this is only broken down by whether people admitted have or have not received a Covid jab. 

Official figures show some 33million Britons have now got their booster jabs, or 58 per cent of over-12s. Among over-65s 9.5million out of 10.7million have got their booster jabs — about 90 per cent.

Some 47million are double-jabbed, or 82 per cent of people over the age of 12.  

Saying there was no need for new restrictions at present, Mr Hopson told The Times: ‘Although the numbers are going up and going up increasingly rapidly, the absence of large numbers of seriously ill older people is providing significant reassurance. 

‘But they are aware that this may change after the Christmas period.

‘Trust CEOs know that the government has a high threshold to cross before it will introduce extra restrictions and can see why, in the absence of that surge of severely ill older people, that threshold hasn’t been crossed yet.’

It comes after one of the country’s largest surveillance study’s warned yesterday that almost 200,000 people in Britain are catching Covid every day. 

King’s College London experts – who monitor the outbreak using a symptom-tracking app – estimate infections jumped 33 per cent in a week to around 192,000 per day.

But the team hailed promising signs that the exponential growth phase of the Omicron outbreak has ‘stopped’. Dr Claire Steves, one of the experts behind the app, said the rise is now ‘more steady’ and cautioned that up to three-quarters of people with cold-like symptoms probably have Covid.

Dr Steves said her team’s data shows that cases are still on the rise in 55-75 year olds, adding: ‘Unfortunately, it’s likely that this will translate into more hospital admissions in the New Year.’ 

It fits with data suggesting the wave may have already peaked in London, which was the first region to be battered by the ultra-infectious variant which evidence shows is causing milder disease than previous strains.

However, hospitals in the capital have already breached the key 400-a-day admissions threshold that could trigger the Government to make a nationwide intervention. 

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