Britain records six Covid victims in third single-digit death toll in a month and daily infections fall 30% in a week to 2,064
- Daily cases and deaths tend to be lower on Mondays because it is after the weekend when fewer people work
- But week-on-week comparisons show cases are still falling two weeks after England eased restrictions
- More than 33.6million Britons have received a first dose, and 12.5million have got their second dose
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Britain today recorded six coronavirus deaths as the daily number of victims remained in single digits for the third time in a month, official figures showed.
Health chiefs also posted another 2,064 Covid cases, down by almost a third from the previous week.
And more than 33.7million Britons have now received their first dose of the vaccine, after a further 79,695 of these shots were dished out on Saturday. And 12.9million have got both jabs, with another 260,801 administered.
Cases and deaths data tend to be lowest on Mondays, because they are after the weekend when fewer people were available to process Covid swabs and fatalities paperwork.
England eased lockdown restrictions two weeks ago to allow pubs and restaurants to reopen for outdoor service, and shops and gyms to pull up the shutters.
Experts say it takes up to two weeks for someone who has been infected with the virus to start suffering symptoms, get a positive test and have their case reported on the dashboard.
But the continued drop will likely add more fuel to calls for Boris Johnson to speed up his ultra-cautious roadmap for relaxing restrictions, which currently will not see people able to dine indoors or go abroad until May 17.
It comes as scientists urged younger Britons to get their Covid vaccines when they are offered to ensure the UK never has to declare another lockdown, amid reports the drive could start offering the jabs to over-30s in weeks.
The Prime Minister also ruled out an inquiry into the pandemic ‘for months’, telling bereaved families the Government is too busy dealing with the outbreak to divert resources to the probe.
And the European Union announced it was suing AstraZeneca for an alleged breach in the terms of its contract, which it claims left the bloc trailing behind the US and UK in its rollout.
Britain’s Covid cases fell by almost a third compared today compared to last Monday after 2,064 were recorded. England eased restrictions two weeks ago to allow pubs and restaurants to again serve customers outdoors
Covid deaths remained in single digits for the third day this month after another six were recorded. Although this was up on the same time last week, it was far below the darkest days of January when there were almost 1,000 fatalities a day
Department of Health data shows today’s deaths were up by half compared to the same time last week when four were recorded, but they remained in single digits.
As many as 205 out of 380 local authorities in the UK – more than half – also had an infection rate below 20 cases per 100,000 people on April 21, the latest date available.
Three councils – the Shetland Islands and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in Scotland and Maldon in Essex – had no cases of the virus over the past seven days.
Derry city, in Northern Ireland, had the highest Covid infection rate in the UK at 109.1 per 100,000. It was followed by Selby, in North Yorkshire, at 80, and Clackmannanshire, also in Scotland, at 69.8.