Covid infections are at lowest level for a YEAR: Just 757 people are getting ill with disease each day – as ministers hint England is set for an even GREATER unlocking on May 17
- Covid Symptom Study estimates there are fewer people getting Covid each day even than last summer
- Number of people with symptoms has dropped from August’s daily low of 874 to roughly 757 last week
- Expert behind study said it ‘signals that we’re moving out of the Covid pandemic’ to manageable levels
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The number of people developing Covid in England has dropped to another record low in the last week with just over 750 people now falling ill each day.
Researchers behind the country’s largest symptom tracking study estimate the daily number of people getting sick is down 13 per cent from 870 to 757 after falling five weeks in a row.
Across the whole of the UK, the decline was 10 per cent from 1,165 cases per day to 1,046. Infections have never been lower, the study claims, even last summer when lockdown rules had been lifted and the virus was in retreat.
Professor Tim Spector, the King’s College London epidemiologist who runs the study, praised the ‘consistent low levels’ of Covid and said: ‘It’s a great position to be in.’
He claimed it ‘signals that we’re moving from a Covid pandemic to Covid becoming endemic in the UK’, with the disease becoming manageable.
The positive data, published in a weekly report, add to the continuing huge success of the vaccine rollout, which experts have found is cutting transmission of the virus as well as keeping people out of hospital.
A Government minister suggested this week that restrictions on funerals could ease as part of a greater unlocking on May 17 – the next stage in the roadmap. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said stringent rules were under ‘careful consideration’. At the moment a maximum of 30 mourners can attend and they have to socially distance.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said last night the country is on track to come out of lockdown as planned in June. Professor Van-Tam said the amount of virus in the UK is ‘at or close to the bottom’.
The prevalence of the virus has been falling almost constantly since the lockdown was imposed at the start of January, according to the study, with only a slight hitch upwards in March
The prevalence of the virus – the total number of people infected – is now thought to be lower even than it was last summer, when there were almost no lockdown rules
The Covid Symptom Study, which relies on reported symptoms and test results from volunteers, estimates that Covid levels are extremely low all over the country except in a handful of hotspots
The Covid Symptom Study relies on around one million volunteers reporting their symptoms and test results through a mobile app.
But coronavirus cases are now so uncommon that the system is struggling to accurately predict the size of the outbreak.
The fact that vaccines mean fewer and fewer people are susceptible to the disease also means the case rate cannot be directly scaled up to the British population.
Professor Spector said: ‘Low incidence and high immunisation rates in the UK makes it currently difficult for Covid surveillance surveys to extrapolate infection data to the wider population.
‘As a result, we’re assessing our methodology to make sure ZOE continues to produce accurate and reliable Covid data. It’s a great position to be in.
‘It’s very reassuring that low rates continue despite reopening gyms and outdoor areas in pubs and restaurants, and bodes well for further relaxation of restrictions in line with the government roadmap out of lockdown.’
