Covid-19 news: Surge in UK cases blamed on ‘more infectious’ Omicron sub-variant - as it happened

We’re ending our rolling coverage of the Covid pandemic for today.

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Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the Covid pandemic.

We’ll bring you updates through the day as Britons are offered a second booster jab amid rising cases.

Hopes that the pandemic was over may have been premature if the latest Covid figures are anything to go by.

Overall coronavirus cases in the UK continue to rise, with more than 170,000 new cases reported on March 14 alone.

New Covid-19 sub-variants are believed to be behind a global surge that has resulted in China’s first deaths in a year, record numbers of infections in South Korea, a 14 per cent jump in cases in Africa and, here in the UK, rising hospital numbers.

Deltacron and Stealth Omicron are two strains that appear to be ushering in yet another new phase of the fight against coronavirus.

My colleague Colin Drury reports:

Vulnerable people in England will begin receiving invitations for the spring Covid booster from Monday.

People aged 75 and over and those who are immunosuppressed will be able to book from 7am.

The booster will be made available to around five million people, with 600,000 expected to receive invitations in the first week.

Local NHS teams will also be contacting care homes to arrange the jab for people who are eligible and have been invited.

The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure.

Coronavirus restrictions in Scotland are being eased despite infection levels said to be at record highs.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed last week that from Monday businesses such as bars and restaurants are no longer required to retain customer contact details.

The legal requirement for businesses, places of worship and others to “take reasonably practicable measures” set out in Scottish government coronavirus guidance is also being ended.

The move comes in the wake of figures from the Office for National Statistics showing levels of Covid infection in Scotland have hit another record high.

They have now risen for seven weeks in a row, with 376,300 people likely to have had the virus last week - or one in 14 - up from one in 18 people the previous week.

My colleague Laura Hampson has everything you need to know about the spring booster programme:

Thousands of children are likely to have died every month because of the impact of coronavirus on health systems in poorer countries, a Scottish charity has found.

In low- and middle-income countries, surging Covid cases saw health systems buckle, a new report by Edinburgh-based charity KidsOR found, with its researchers estimating the collateral effects saw at least 6,000 children die each month during the pandemic.

There were significant changes in the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients operated on pre- and post-Covid - with more healthier and wealthier patients treated - with the charity saying the findings raise concerns about hidden morbidity and mortality amongst poorer people.

Because healthier people were more likely to get treatment, they experienced better outcomes, with a 50% drop in the number of people getting sepsis, infection or dying after surgery.

David Cunningham, the charity’s chief executive, said: “The study suggests the improvements likely reflect a change in the patient population, where sicker patients may not be getting the required care due to increased barriers to access healthcare during the pandemic.

“Our findings add to the growing evidence of hidden morbidity and excess mortality during the pandemic from patients delaying care and potentially dying at home, especially in rural and underserved areas.”

Some 11,500 people in English hospitals have Covid-19 but the majority of them have not been admitted because of the disease, the Health Secretary said.

Sajid Javid told Times Radio: "At the moment, in English hospitals we have around 11,500 people that are Covid-positive, but of those people the NHS estimates almost 60% are not there because of Covid - they are there for something else. That might be a hip operation or something, but they happen to be Covid-positive.

"So those that are actually there for Covid is a much smaller number and so that does give us a lot of confidence that we are learning to live with Covid.

On infections, he added: "We are seeing an increase in the number of cases at the moment and indeed hospitalisations, that said the numbers are significantly below the Omicron peak.

"But it's right that we keep vaccination under review and so I have accepted the latest advice of the JCVI - that's our expert group of independent advisors - to offer this spring booster jab to anyone that's 75 or over, residents of elderly people's care homes, and those that have weakened immune systems.

"It will top up their protection against this virus and allow them to go about their daily lives with more confidence."

Hong Kong plans to relax some anti-COVID-19 measures next month, lifting a ban on flights from nine countries, reducing quarantine and reopening schools, after a backlash from business and residents.

The moves, announced on Monday by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, come as many countries shift to trying to living with the virus rather than trying to keep it out.

Residents in the Chinese-ruled territory have become increasingly frustrated with the stringent measures, many of which have been in place for over two years.

A ban on flights from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and the United States will be lifted from April 1.

“The flight ban is no longer timely and appropriate...it will bring huge disturbances to Hong Kong people who are stuck in these nine countries if we continue the ban,” Lam told a news briefing.

What are some of the signs you might have the Omicron strain of Covid?

My colleague Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports: