@dailymailuk: Covid cases in England have more than doubled in a month as infections rise sharply 🦠 Official figures show 4,589 cases were recorded in September, up from 1,374 in August, an increase of around 230%. Hospital admissions also rose from 950 to 4,939 over the same period. The rise comes as the XFG variant, also known as ‘Stratus’, continues to circulate in the UK. Covid typically becomes more prevalent in autumn as children return to school, but the increase this year has been considerably faster than last year. Another measure of Covid prevalence has also risen, with the proportion of tests returning positive climbing from 1.6% to more than 8% between August and the end of September.