Coronavirus: ONS survey shows 48,500 people in England have coronavirus, down on last week
Fewer than 50,000 people in England were infected with Covid last week as data shows outbreak may be flat and cases remain low – but statisticians warn infections could be on the up amid rapid spread of Indian variant
- Just one in every 1,120 people would test positive for the virus in England now: Office for National Statistics
- The number has risen slightly from 41,000 in April but is still very low, with fewer than 0.1% of people infected
- Data now show a mixed picture of whether UK’s outbreak is growing or shrinking – cases are likely to rise soon
There were still fewer than 50,000 people infected with coronavirus in England last week with just one in 1,120 testing positive, a swab-testing survey found.
The weekly Office for National Statistics report estimated 48,500 people across the country had the virus in the week to May 22. This was about flat with 49,000 the week before after it spiked from 41,000 a week earlier than that.
ONS experts remarked on the spread of the Indian variant, which Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last night had become dominant in England and now makes up between 50 and 75 per cent of cases.
The report said: ‘We have seen an increase in cases that are not compatible with the UK variant in England and Scotland; these are likely to be compatible with the variant B.1.617.2, first identified in India.’
Around one in 1,120 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to May 22 – broadly unchanged on one in 1,110 in the previous week, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus continues to be low at 0.09%, but there are potential signs of an increase since early May, when the percentage was 0.07%, the ONS said.
The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 is estimated to have increased in eastern England, while there were early signs of a decrease in south-east England.
The trend for all other regions was uncertain, the ONS said.
In many regions positivity rates are very low, meaning trends are difficult to identify since they are affected by small changes in the number of people testing positive from week to week.
Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to May 22: around one in 610.
Both south-west England and south-east England had the lowest estimate: around one in 2,900.
In Wales, around one in 3,850 people is estimated to have had Covid-19 in the week to May 22.
This is up slightly from one in 4,340 in the previous week, but the percentage testing positive “continues to be very low, which makes it difficult to identify trends since they are more easily affected by small changes in the number of people testing positive from week to week,” the ONS said.
In Northern Ireland there are “early signs of a possible increase”, with an estimate of around one in 820 people, up from one in 1,550 in the previous week.
The estimate for Scotland is around one in 630, up from one in 1,960.
All figures are for people in private households.
NHS Test and Trace data yesterday showed the majority of people testing positive for Covid in the UK were in the younger age brackets
