covid rates falling in England
618,700 people in England had Covid last week but the infection rate is decreasing according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The statistics are for the week before the second national lockdown.
Around one in 90 people, which is equivalent to 1.13% of the population, were infected with Covid in private households for the week between 25 and 31 October. This is a jump up from 568,100 people who were estimated to have Covid the week before.
While the infection rate has increased in the last few weeks, “the rate of increase is less steep compared with previous weeks“, the ONS stated. The ONS said new infections in England have stabilised at around 50,000 a day, indicating a levelling off in a recent steep curve in cases. There are 45,700 new cases per day, a decrease from the previous week’s prediction of 51,900.
Ed Conway, Sky News economic editor, said it was “good news”, adding: “Still early days (the modelling has given us some false hope before) but this is perhaps the most promising sign yet of a slowdown in new infections.” The ONS data does not refer to Covid infections in hospitals, care homes or other institutions. Covid infection rates have increased in all regions over recent weeks. Exception is made by northeast England likely due to being under tougher restrictions for longer.
There have also been increases in infection rates across all age groups, except among older teenagers and young adults. The highest infection rates are still among older teenagers and young adults though.
In Wales, 27,100 people in private households had Covid between October 25 and 31. That is the equivalent of 0.89% of the population, up from an estimated 26,100 people the week before. The ONS predicts that the number of Covid cases in Wales has “increased in recent weeks, but the rate of increase is now less steep compared with previous weeks.“
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