Fewer than 900 people in England are now getting ill with Covid every day

Fewer than 900 people in England are now catching coronavirus every day, according to a symptom-tracking app, the lowest level ever and below estimates for August when there were next to no restrictions.

King’s College London scientists estimated only 870 people suffered a symptomatic infection with the virus every day last week, based on reports from more than a million Britons.

This was the lowest number since estimates began in June, and below the previous low point in mid-August before the burdensome ‘rule of six’ and a flurry of other restrictions came into force.

Professor Tim Spector, the epidemiologist who leads the app, said the dropping cases signalled troublesome variants had not gained a foothold, which was likely down to the successful vaccination programme – already jabbed three in five Britons – social distancing, and warmer weather allowing people to spend more time outdoors.

And in yet more promising statistics published today, Test and Trace found Covid cases fell by nine per cent last week in another sign Britain’s outbreak is continuing to shrink.   

Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure to speed-up his roadmap out of lockdown, after promising to be led by ‘data not dates’ when relaxing tight lockdown restrictions. 

Professor Spector said he was ‘encouraged’ by the promising figures, which suggested the troublesome variants that could make vaccines less effective were yet to gain a foothold.

‘Rates are down 28 per cent again this week and hopefully we’ll drop below the milestone of 1,000 cases in the next few days towards our record low last year in August. The ONS survey is also now showing downward trends.

‘I am encouraged to see no impact from the South African variant in the areas of Southwark and Lambeth where some expected it to get out of control. 

‘This is likely due to the vaccination programme, the continuation of social distancing measures and the improving weather making it harder now for any new variant to take hold.’

The ZOE Covid Symptom study app relies on more than a million Britons reporting symptoms and whether they have tested positive for Covid to estimate the spread of the disease across the country.

But they inevitably miss asymptomatic cases – which trigger no tell-tale signs – which official estimates suggest make up about a third of all infections.

The app’s estimated showed England’s Covid cases had dropped 30 per cent last week, down from 1,271 people catching the virus every day the week before.

This was also well below the darkest days of January, when they estimated around 50,000 people were being infected by the virus every day.

ZOE estimated that there were 1,271 infections a day across the UK last week, which was a 30 per cent drop from the previous estimate.