Although the resurgence of polio is a worry for some health officials, it is far from the one of greatest concern.
Cases of coronavirus have begun to rise sharply in recent days, up 130 percent in the last three weeks; a new wave of COVID-19 is underway.
Professor Kinane says the wave is “largely being driven by the swift transmission of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants, particularly through ‘super spreader’ mass participation events like the Jubilee celebrations, the Glastonbury music festival, and the Wimbledon tennis championship”.
As well as large sporting events, the rise in case numbers has been driven by the removal of testing which means the UK is partially blinded to the changing viral landscape.
“Without the lack of a baseline surveillance system and the absence of a testing framework, we have very limited visibility on the virus’ mutation,” Kinane says.