puts on track not just for a labour government, but a majority labour government, so this is hugely significant for the labour party. thousands of miles away, the prime minister, at a commonwealth meeting in rwanda, sought to brush off the defeats. yes, it s absolutely true that we ve i had some tough by election results and they have been i think- a reflection of a lot of things, but we have got to recognise that voters are going through a tough time at the moment. but the tory party chairman oliver dowden has resigned saying, we cannot carry on with business as usual . we ll bring you all the latest. and our other major story this evening: a decision that s rocked america its supreme court votes to outlaw a woman s legal right to abortion, causing despair and delight. it s so vindicating to know we can take tangible steps to lessen the violence of abortion. take tangible steps to lessen the violence of abortion. abortions will continue but violence of abortion. abo
would be the over 65s. in addition, these groups, like health and care workers and other younger age groups with health conditions will be eligible for an autumn booster. the virus is spreading fast now the latest survey from the office for national statistics suggests that about 3.5 million people in the uk had the virus last week, that s up 29% from the week before. it s still not as high, though, as the level in late march when there were 4.9 million infections. scotland has the highest case rates. 1 in 16 people there had the virus last week. in england, it was1 in 19 and in wales and northern ireland, 1 in 17 people. professor adam finn from thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation joins us now. good morning. where do you think we are in terms of this latest covid wave? ~ ., wave? well, we are right in the middle of wave? well, we are right in the middle of it, wave? well, we are right in the middle of it, and
in scotland, it was1 in 18 people, and northern ireland, 1 in 13, while in england about1 in 25 had the virus, and wales, 1 in 30. case rates were higher in all the uk s nations. we are concerned about rising infection in the community and an increase in hospital admissions, but we have decoupled the worst health harms in this virus due to vaccination. the demand on intensive care beds is still lower, as is mortality. so we just have to watch very carefully and try and mitigate our way out of this phase of the pandemic. with cases rising, some have called for the next boosterjab, planned for older people and those with weakened immune systems, to be launched as soon as possible. a minute s silence, meanwhile, was held at the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire to mark the second anniversary of the world health organization declaring there was a coronavirus pandemic, and to remember sacrifices made by health and care workers.
it was expected the virus would spread more widely, though with more people vaccinated, the risk of serious illness was reduced. and cases have been increasing. they office for national statistics survey of community infection suggests in england, 1 in 640 people had the virus last week, an increase on the previous week. in wales, it was1 in 1050 again, with an increase. in scotland, at1 in 680, and northern ireland, with1 in 800, case rates were broadly similar to the previous week. so, for the health secretary, at a tree planting ceremony with his counterparts from g7 nations, there s still some hard work ahead. he says more data will be assessed next week before final decisions are made about lifting restrictions in england. nationally, of course, the number of cases is going up. and the critical thing is that the vaccine breaks the link from the number of cases