Covid cases are set to spike in the coming week after England fans packed pubs, living rooms and parties for the Euros last night, scientists have warned. A study of the last Euro football tournament , from mid June to mid July 2021, found “sharp spikes” in Covid following each England match as people crowded together in large groups, often in enclosed spaces – at the same time as shouting and cheering; all of which help the virus to spread. The spread of Covid was particularly pronounced on 11 July, 2021, when England played Italy in the final – a situation that closely resembles last night’s final between England and Spain.
During that game, the number of people catching Covid was “between six and nine times higher than what would otherwise have been expected”, according to the study by Oxford and Warwick Universities, published in the journal Science. The cumulative effect of the final few England games is expected to push Covid cases back up again, after they peaked late June and have started to come down again . However, they remained much higher than at the same time last year, even before the Euros started to push them back up again, scientists said.
According to UK Government figures, there were 4.44 cases of Covid per 100,000 over a seven-day period on 10 July, a fall from 4.88 the week before, while the figure reached a high of 5.
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