DAILY Covid cases could be up to 25,000, Public Health England's boss warned today.

The true figures may be far higher than the official reported 7-8,000, due to cases not picked up.

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Dr Susan Hopkins revealed the estimate for new infections today is "between 15,000 and 25,000", as she added PHE is monitoring 25 Covid variants.

She also warned if the Delta variant was "unmitigated", left to spread without any measures, the R value could be "greater than five and maybe up to seven".

Dr Hopkins told the Science and Technology Committee this morning: "What we are seeing at the moment are about 7,000 to 8,000 infections per day – that's what we're detecting.

"But we know that that is less than half of what the true infections are in the community, and we've measured that a number of ways.

"So the estimate for current infections today is probably in the order of between 15,000 and 25,000 new infections today.

"It doesn't take very many doublings to get to very large numbers.

"But the more infections we have, the more impact there will be – so 90 per cent effectiveness, that means 10 per cent could actually come into hospital."

On June 11 a PHE briefing revealed 13 variants were being monitored, but today Dr Hopkins said 25 are now being closely followed.

So the estimate for current infections today is probably in the order of between 15,000 and 25,000 new infections today.

The Deputy Director of PHE's National Infection Service warned today: "We are living in a world of variants now, everything we see is either going to have a transmissibility advantage or an immune evading advantage.

"About eight per cent of individuals who have been identified as a contact of a case with Alpha, the ones who have become a case, and about 12 per cent of cases have been identified as a contact of the case with Delta, go on to become a case.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard explained to the Science and Technology Committee the UK would have to learn to live with Covid.

He said: "We're talking about variants and their emergence – this will happen, is going to continue to happen. It will escape from vaccines."

But the expert said if severe disease and hospitalisations can be prevented, we can start to properly bounce back from the crisis which began in March last year.

It was reported on Monday two Covid jabs stops hospitalisation from the Delta variant by up to 96 per cent.

Both Pfizer and AstraZeneca's vaccines are hugely effective against severe illness when double dosed, encouraging new data has revealed this week.

It comes days after June 21's "Freedom Day" was delayed by the Prime Minister due to worries over an increase in hopsitalisations, and the need to vaccinate as many people as possible as the Delta variant spreads.

The variant, first seen in India, is more transmissible than the Alpha (Kent) that ripped through the UK at Christmas and caused the third long lockdown.

Both Pfizer and AstraZeneca's vaccines are hugely effective against severe illness when double dosed, encouraging new data has revealed this week.

The PM said: "Vaccination greatly reduces transmission and two doses provides a very high degree of protection against serious illness and death."

New Public Health England data shows that after two doses the Pfizer vaccine is 96 per cent effective against hospitalisation and the AstraZeneca slashes the risk by 92 per cent.

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