Covid-19 is now more rife in England than at any other time during the virus crisis, the biggest Covid surveillance scheme has suggested.

According to the Daily Mail, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated more than 4.1 million people had the virus on any given day over the week to March 26, equivalent to one in 13 being infected.

The figure is the highest ever recorded in England, topping the previous peak of 3.7 million at the height of the Omicron wave in January. It is also 18 per cent higher than last week.

In the most Covid-ridden towns of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, as many as one in nine people were thought to have the virus. And infections have soared to pandemic highs in all over-35s.

Britain's outbreak as a whole is also bigger than ever, with 4.9 million now thought to be infected -- up from 4.3 million last week.

Statisticians said England's surge was being driven by the more transmissible version of Omicron, scientifically named BA. Although, ministers admit that ditching the final Covid restrictions last month also fuelled the uptick.

Despite the mass testing project warning that cases show no signs of slowing yet, top scientists are hopeful that the worst may be over.

Official numbers -- reliant on people getting tested, as opposed to random swabbing -- have been falling for a week, bolstering hopes that the virus was running out of steam, the report said.

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