Scotland has recorded its lowest number of daily Covid-19 cases in almost seven months, with the latest figures showing that there were 199 positive tests in the past 24 hours and no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest statistics.
Coronavirus case rates for two of the four UK nations have continued to decrease in recent weeks, whereas data shows that infection rates in the other two UK nations has been broadly level.
Modelling by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in both Wales and and Scotland has decreased in the two weeks to 3 April.
Northern Ireland is currently recording rates last seen towards the end of September. The ONS modelling suggests the percentage of people testing positive appeared level in recent weeks, but added that there was “high uncertainty”.
Meanwhile the overall rate for England has appeared to level out and remains unchanged from the week ending 3 April.
According to official government data, the latest R value for England is between 0.8 to 1.0, which means that on average, every 10 people infected will infect between eight and 10 other people.
England also has a growth rate of between -4 per cent and 0 per cent, which means that the number of new infections “is broadly flat or shrinking by up to 4 per cent every day”.
Case rates are one of a range of measures the government is using to inform its roadmap out of lockdown, along with the number of hospital admissions and patients, estimates of virus transmission rate, the latest data on deaths and the effect of vaccine rollout.
According to Boris Johnson’s plan, England is due to end all social distancing measures on 21 June. England has entered its second stage of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, with pubs, cafes and restaurants allowed to reopen for outdoor and takeaway service.
The total number of UK cases has now passed 4 million, while the death toll is nearing 130,000.
This is higher than the combined death toll for the UK from the Great Plague, the Aids pandemic and every single terror attack and war since 1945.
