A FURTHER 112,458 coronavirus cases have been recorded today in the UK, taking the number of infected Brits since the start of the pandemic to 17,428,345.
Cases jumped by up by 92,368 yesterday – as reinfections were counted for the first time.
An additional 588,114 cases were added to the Government dashboard due to the inclusion of reinfections which had previously not been part of the tally.
Today's figure is a four per cent drop on rates seen on January 1, when 117,065 cases were recorded.
Today a further 219 deaths were recorded 28 days after a positive PCR test, bringing the grim tally to 156,875.
As cases continue to climb, Omicron has now thrown out a 'sub-variant'.
It's called BA.2, and is thought to be very similar to the current dominant strain – BA.1.
The numbers are still small, when compared to the Omicron that spread before Christmas.
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Experts are closely monitoring it to see if there are any differences in severity of illness or effect of the vaccines – but at the moment it's not thought to be more serious, with vaccines working well.
The first known version of Omicron is B.1.1.529 – which is what was dubbed a variant of concern by WHO.
This then developed into two strains, with BA.1 becoming super transmissible, spreading to 171 countries and causing a row back on freedoms in many places.
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Now, BA.2 and BA.3 have been logged as new sub-variants in the Omicron family.
There have been 2,500 cases of BA.2 found in the UK since December 6.
Most people who are catching Omicron are suffering with cold-like symptoms and a host of studies has proved that it is milder than the variants that came before it.
Vaccines and boosters have been proven to reduce your risk of severe coronavirus and it was this week announced that the most vulnerable are now able to come forward for their fourth dose of the vaccine.
A new study published today also highlighted the importance of vaccines and the damage not having them can do to your health.
The experts said that breakthrough cases of Covid are on the rise with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
"Therefore, it is important to know how vaccination impacts not only Covid-19 disease severity but also clinical data and medical imaging results", they said.
The purpose of the study had been to look at breakthrough infections (people who have been vaccinated and then are infected 14 days or more after receiving their jabs), in those who were fully vaccinated and partly vaccinated.
As part of the study the experts looked at 761 hospitalised patients with Covid-19, the mean age was 47 years, with 51 per cent being female.
They found that just 6.2 per cent of those in hospital with a breakthrough infection were fully vaccinated.
Just 17 per cent were partially vaccinated (one dose) and a 77 per cent were unvaccinated.
While rules put in place to protect us from Covid have now been removed in the UK, it's still important to take a test if you think you might be unwell.
One doctor today revealed how you may have been doing lateral flow tests wrong, and provided a handy guide on exactly how you should be doing them.
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