Coronavirus cases in England are 26 times higher than they were this time last year, official data shows.
The Office for National Statistics figures show that weekly estimated Covid infections jumped from 28,200 in late August last year to 756,900 for the same period this month.
This means that roughly one in 70 people had coronavirus in the week up to August 20, compared to one in 1,900 in August 2020.
It comes as fears mount over cases rising even further as schools reopen in England next week.
Coronavirus deaths are up by 27% on last week, with 133 fatalities recorded on Saturday, and cases are rising in all four nations of Britain.
Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said just one in 1,900 people had Covid this time last year, according to the ONS figures.
He added: “This means that community infections are 26 times more common than a year ago, when the population was unvaccinated, and the country was three months into its re-opening.
"This time, the vaccine programme is keeping down the number of hospitalisations and deaths but increasing numbers of community infections still translate into growing numbers of very sick covid patients, and an unnecessarily high burden on the NHS."
Dr Clarke said the figures were 'sobering' and showed the UK was 'running hot' with its Covid management plan.
He added: "We are likely to see numbers increase in the weeks ahead due to a number of reasons.
"Cooler autumn weather, leading to increased indoor social mixing, is likely to drive further increases in the coming weeks.
"The end of summer holidays and return of people to work and education, without clear guidance on physical measures to avoid transmission such as mask wearing or social distancing, is also likely to push up infection rates."
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Prof Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, described the latest figures as 'a bit depressing'.
He added: "It’s true that vaccines have much reduced the risk that someone will end up in hospital or die, if they become infected with the virus.
"But they haven’t reduced the risk to zero. The last time that infections were at the level they now are in England, according to the CIS (Covid Infection Survey), was the end of January.
"Back then, in England, there were around 2,300 daily hospital admissions of Covid-19 patients, and 1,100 deaths a day involving Covid-19 according to ONS figures based on death registration."
