Spike attributed to waning immunity and nation's scrapping of restrictions

The number of people with COVID-19 in the United Kingdom's hospitals rose sharply during the past week, triggering fears that another lockdown could be on the way.

Healthcare professionals said the spike could be down to the declining efficacy of vaccinations given more than six months earlier, the recent end of most of the UK's virus-limiting restrictions, new variants of the novel coronavirus having emerged, and reduced vigilance among general population.

Against the backdrop of the fast growth in hospitalizations, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps faced some tough questions on Tuesday, when he announced the impending end of the nation's last virus restrictions - the requirement that unvaccinated international arrivals test negative the disease and that travelers tell the authorities where they will be staying when in the UK.

With the National Health Service reporting 10,576 patients in hospital beds with COVID-19 on Monday - the most since mid-February - Shapps tweeted: "These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter."

He said the UK is "leading the world in removing all remaining COVID-19 travel restrictions".

The government said earlier it wants, from now on, to use "the least-stringent measures" related to international travel. It also insisted it will only bring back restrictions on international travel in "extreme circumstances".

While the travel industry welcomed the end of the last UK virus restrictions, rival politicians said the move will only add to the nation's spike in cases and leave the country open to importing new strains and mutations.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted through his spokesman, however, that the nation must sweep away its final virus restrictions despite the rise in hospital cases.

"At the moment, we don't see anything nearing any of the sorts of pressures we saw at the peak of the pandemic, when such large proportions of the population weren't vaccinated or boosted," The Guardian newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We obviously will always have contingency plans, but the prime minister and others have talked about how the vaccination and our therapeutics mean we will not need to return to the lockdowns of the past that saw such significant measures be necessary."

The reassurance followed 444,201 cases of COVID-19 being recorded during the previous seven days, a rise of 48.1 percent on the week before. In addition, there were 19 percent more people in hospital with COVID-19 on Monday than on the previous Monday.

The Telegraph newspaper said analysis by the COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group shows new hospital admissions rose by 25 percent week-on-week, and that the number of infections in the UK is currently doubling every two weeks.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid insisted, however, that the rise in the number of infections and hospitalizations following the scrapping of restrictions was expected and planned for.

"We will continue monitoring and tracking potential new variants, and keep a reserve of measures which can be rapidly deployed if needed to keep us safe," he added.