02.12.2024

Covid wave crashes to lowest level since June – with fewer than a million now infected

Covid cases have continued to plummet in England, with fewer than one million people infected for the first time in three months, surveillance data suggests.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that just 893,300 people in the country were infected on any given day in the week to August 23. The figure marks a 26 per cent downturn on the previous week.

It means just one in 60 people were testing positive — the lowest level since the week to June 2, when 797,500 were infected (one in 70).

Cases continued to trend downwards across most of the UK, with 96,000 logged in Scotland and 47,300 recorded in Wales. However, 35,800 were logged in Northern Ireland, where ONS statisticians said the trend was uncertain.

ONS bosses said it is unclear whether the figure for Northern Ireland — up by a third in a week — marks an end of the tumble in cases.

The statisticians said they will continue to monitor the data, with the return of pupils to classrooms this week, following the summer holiday, expected to cause a surge in infections.

While cases have been plummeting nation-wide since mid-July, health chiefs are expecting a surge in the autumn and winter months, as more people socialise indoors.

To protect against the spike, an autumn booster campaign will kick off from Monday, with 26million people across England eligible for the next-generation vaccine that has been tailored to protect against the dominant Omicron strain.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that just 893,300 people in England were infected on any given day in the week to August 23. The figure marks a 26 per cent downturn on the previous week. It means just one in 60 people were testing positive — the lowest level since the week to June 2, when 797,500 were infected (one in 70)

ONS data shows cases continued to trend downwards across most of the UK, with 96,000 logged in Scotland and 47,300 recorded in Wales. However, 35,800 were logged in Northern Ireland , where ONS statisticians said the trend was uncertain and may mark an end of the tumble in cases

The Office for National Statistics estimates that just 893,300 people in England were infected on any given day in the week to August 23. The figure marks a 26 per cent downturn on the previous week. It means just one in 60 people were testing positive — the lowest level since the week to June 2, when 797,500 were infected (one in 70)

In England, the proportion of people infected dropped in all regions apart from the East Midlands. Infections were lowest in the Yorkshire and the Humber, where just 1.3 per cent of people were infected. The case rate was also below the national average in the West Midlands and the South East (1.5 per cent). The East Midlands (1.9 per cent), London and the South West (1.8 per cent) had the highest virus prevalence

ONS surveillance data shows cases fell across all age groups. Those aged 50 to 69 were most likely to test positive (1.9 per cent), followed by the over-70s (1.7 per cent) and 35 to 49-year-olds (1.6 per cent). Around one in 100 school-aged children were infected — the lowest rate of any cohort — but this is expected to change in the coming weeks as schools reopen for the new academic year

Boris insists lockdowns DID NOT plunge the NHS into chaos, in swipe at Tory rival Rishi Sunak

Boris Johnson has insisted that draconian lockdowns imposed during the pandemic did not plunge the NHS into chaos.

In one of his final public appearances as Prime Minister, Mr Johnson dismissed recent suggestions by Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak that the UK had gone too far in Covid restrictions.

He said: ‘There is a sort of inversion of logic going on – people are now saying too much lockdown caused the current problems in the NHS.

‘I am afraid to say that the opposite is the case in the sense that if we hadn’t locked down, if we hadn’t tried to prevent the spread of the disease then the problems we are facing now in the NHS would be even worse.’

‘And I really urge people just to think about the logic of what they are saying.’

Last week, Mr Sunak sensationally claimed it was an error to bow so heavily to SAGE, the Government’s influential scientific committee, whose doom-laden forecasts swayed Mr Johnson into a series of damaging restrictions.

Kara Steel, senior statistician for the ONS Covid Infection Survey, said: ‘Today’s data shows infection levels continue to decrease across most of the UK, with the number of people with Covid in England now estimated to be under one million for the first time since early June.

‘Though there is an uncertain trend in Northern Ireland, it is too early to say if this marks the end of the recent decrease. We will monitor the data closely to understand the impact of schools returning across the UK.’

The ONS data, based on swabs of thousands of people, estimated cases in Scotland fell 29 per cent in the last week, with one in 40 people thought to be infected.

Infections dropped 28 per cent in Wales, where on in 65 were carrying the virus, and jumped 36 per cent in Northern Ireland, where one in 70 were testing positive, its figures suggest.

In England, the proportion of people infected dropped in all regions apart from the East Midlands. Infections were lowest in the Yorkshire and the Humber, where just 1.3 per cent of people were infected. The case rate was also below the national average in the West Midlands and the South East (1.5 per cent). The East Midlands (1.9 per cent), London and the South West (1.8 per cent) had the highest virus prevalence

In England, the proportion of people infected dropped in all regions apart from the East Midlands.

Infections were lowest in the Yorkshire and the Humber, where just 1.3 per cent of people were infected. The case rate was also below the national average in the West Midlands and the South East (1.5 per cent).

The East Midlands (1.9 per cent), London and the South West (1.8 per cent) had the highest virus prevalence.

Cases also fell across all age groups.

Those aged 50 to 69 were most likely to test positive (1.9 per cent), followed by the over-70s (1.7 per cent) and 35 to 49-year-olds (1.6 per cent).

Around one in 100 school-aged children were infected — the lowest rate of any cohort — but this is expected to change in the coming weeks as schools reopen for the new academic year.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, a group of scientists on pressure group Independent SAGE this week called for schools to implement measures to ‘minimise transmission among children and to their families’.

Experts have warned that pupils returning from overseas holiday may have picked up Covid on their flight and transmit it to others in their class.

In response to an expected surge, NHS medics will begin dishing out Covid booster jabs to vulnerable groups on September 5 to prepare for winter — amid concerns the health service will be hit by a triple-whammy of Covid, flu and the cost of living crisis.

All over-50s will be offered both flu and Covid vaccines, along with NHS and social care staff. Care home residents and people who are housebound will be the first in the queue. By Christmas, some of the country’s most vulnerable people will have already had six doses.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises No10 on vaccine campaigns, said the move will limit severe illness, hospitalisations and deaths due to both viruses this winter.

But MailOnline analysis last week revealed that more than a third of over-50s have still not had their first Covid booster — which were offered last autumn — in parts of England.

While there is concern about an expected uptick in Covid cases, the number of infected people in England’s hospitals continues to flatten. An average of 560 people were admitted per day in the week to August 29, down from 2,000 in the latest July peak.

The NHS announced this week that it will no longer publish daily Covid admission and bed occupancy data, instead moving to a weekly data release.

The health service said the move followed a decision by the UK Health Security Agency to pause routine asymptomatic testing due to low prevalence of the virus and the Government’s decision to downgrade the Covid alert level from three to two.

A level two alert means that ‘Covid is in general circulation but direct healthcare pressures and transmission are declining or stable’.

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