England’s coronavirus outbreak grew by less than one per cent last week, according to figures released by a symptom tracking app today.
But the top scientist behind the Covid Symptom Study insisted cases are ‘under control’ and the slight rise was inevitable because of schools reopening on March 8.
The app estimated there were 3,245 daily symptomatic infections with the virus in the week to March 21, a rise of 0.6 per cent on the 3,226 reported for the week before. For comparison, around 70,000 people were developing tell-tale signs of the illness each day during the peak of the second wave in January.
Professor Tim Spector, who leads the app, said the figures showed cases were rising slightly ‘off the back of schools reopening’ but that the numbers are ‘currently well under control and aren’t a cause for concern’.
The King’s College London epidemiologist added that cases were rising faster in Wales and Scotland, where schools went back earlier but with a more staggered reopening with only younger year groups asked back at first.
Boris Johnson reopened England’s schools to all pupils on March 8, but they were required to test themselves for the virus twice weekly to avoid other outbreaks. This has seen the number of tests done doubling every day – to around 1.1million every 24 hours – which experts say has led to more infections being detected.
It comes after official data from Public Health England yesterday suggested cases were rising across a third of England, but that this was linked to a rise among schoolchildren only.
Covid cases in England rose by less than one per cent last week, according to the King’s College Covid-19 Symptom study app. But Professor Tim Spector, who leads the app, said the cases were under control
The King’s College London epidemiologist said cases were rising among schoolchildren, which was to be expected as they had been invited back to classrooms. He added the rise was happening faster in Scotland and Wales
Boris Johnson has asked all pupils to test themselves for the virus twice a week to root out any outbreaks early
Prevalence figures for the UK showed the outbreak appears to be focussed in the north of England, Wales and central Scotland
The Covid Symptom tracking app relies on daily reports from more than one million people across the UK, who enter whether they are feeling unwell and what warning signs they are suffering.
But it cannot detect asymptomatic infections which trigger no warning signs, which Government scientists say make up about a third of all cases.
Britain’s infections ticked up by about seven per cent last week, the app estimated, after it recorded 4,785 daily cases compared to 4,470 the week before.
Scotland saw its cases tick up by 16 per cent last week, after they rose to 756 new daily cases. Nicola Sturgeon has reopened schools and the UK nation is planning to relax its stay-at-home order on April 2.
And Wales saw its cases dip by one per cent last week, after they fell from 424 to 420 per day. The Welsh Government will lift its stay local rule from Saturday which will allow citizens to travel to any area within the UK nation. Six people from two different households will also be allowed to meet.
Public Health England data yesterday revealed some 56 of 149 local authorities saw their Covid outbreaks grow last week, but that the rise was among schoolchildren.
When the figures were broken down by age, they showed cases were only spiking among five to nine-year-olds, by half, and 10 to 19-year-olds, by a quarter.
But they continued falling in all other age groups, and hit their lowest levels since August in the over-70s. Everyone in this age group has been offered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, PHE’s medical director, warned cases appeared to have ‘plateaued’ in most parts of the country, and were rising in younger age groups. She added: ‘We must not drop our guard now after so much effort by so many. We need only look to Europe to see how easy it is for things to take a turn for the worse.’
Sir Jeremy Farrar, a top SAGE adviser, added yesterday that it appeared ‘transmission was just starting to tick up’ across England because schools had reopened. But the Wellcome Trust chief said the biggest threat was from abroad, amid a spiralling third wave in Europe and the mounting spread of dangerous variants — including the South African strain — that make vaccines less effective.