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EXCL: Health bosses have launched a £50,000 probe to uncover why NHS staff aren't getting Covid and flu jabs in a project that will cover the North West, West Midlands, and London.
Hospital admissions are also rising sharply - up a fifth in a week - sparking concerns that the UK is on the brink of another wave just as the country heads into the autumn when the NHS gets busier.
UKHSA advisers admitted they are spooked by Pirola's catalogue of mutations. Britain has already detected a case of the highly-evolved variant, joining the likes of Israel, Denmark and the US.
Dubbed "Pirola" by variant trackers, the strain is different enough from other Omicron to potentially warrant a Greek letter from the WHO, experts say.
Not much is known about BA.2.86, which was first spotted by virus trackers earlier this week and has already been detected in four countries.