Daily Covid cases down for third day in UK

119545141 gettyimages 1233313341
UK

commuters with masks

Getty Images

Covid infections have continued to rise around much of the UK, say experts from the Office for National Statistics.

Swab tests in the community suggests 1.3% of the population – or one in 80 people – has the virus, up from one in 100 the week before.

The more infectious Delta variant accounts for almost every case.

Meanwhile, Public Health England warns of an increased risk of catching this variant, first identified in India, even if you have had Covid before.

It says 897 cases out of 68,688 Delta infections recorded in an 11-week period from April to June were possible reinfections.

According to the ONS:

  • one in 75 people have the virus in England – compared to one in 95 the week before
  • in Scotland it is one in 80 – compared to one in 90 the week before
  • in Wales it is one in 210 – compared to one in 360 previously
  • in Northern Ireland it is one in 170 – compared to one in 290

ONS Senior Statistician Kara Steel said: “Infections continue to increase across the UK, with rates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland similar to those seen in February.

“With infection rates rising, keeping a close eye on the data is crucial to see how the vaccination programmes are protecting many from infection and developing severe symptoms.

“Continuing to monitor the infection rates is crucial going forward, particularly as we have not yet seen the impact of the easing of restrictions in our data, therefore I would like to thank every single one of our participants for their continued contribution.”

The latest estimate of the R rate – which measures how quickly the virus is spreading – is unchanged from the previous week at 1.2 to 1.4.

It means that on average, every 10 people infected with coronavirus goes on to infect between 12 and 14 others, so the epidemic continues to grow.

The estimated daily growth rate shows signs of a possible slowdown, however. This week’s estimate is that infections are growing at between 4% and 6% a day, down from between 4% and 7% last week.

These estimates represent transmission which happened two to three weeks ago, due to a delay between people being infected, developing symptoms and needing healthcare.

Products You May Like

Articles You May Like

Government gets £420m from miners pension scheme
What we know about the attack on a Moscow concert hall
Lost power, mayday call and crash before Baltimore bridge collapse
Campaigning dad of Damilola Taylor dies
British Gas chief’s pay package jumps to £8.2m

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.