Covid cases increase for third day in row: Infections rise 12% to 27,429 as deaths drop 40%
Covid cases increase for third day in row: Infections rise 12% to 27,429 as deaths drop 40% from 65 to 39
- Coronavirus cases have risen for third consecutive day as figures show 12 % increase on last week’s figures
- Data released on Sunday stated further 39 people lost their lives to virus, a 40% decrease from previous week
- Total infections risen to 6,069,362, while 130,320 people who tested positive died since start of pandemic
Coronavirus cases have increased for the third day in a row with Department of Health bosses today declaring a further 27,429 infections, a increase of 12 per cent on last Sunday’s figure of 27,429.
The number of people dying with the virus has decreased to 39 – a decrease of 40 per cent from 65 last Sunday.
Hospital admissions fell to 742 as of Tuesday, a 18.6 per cent decrease from the 912 people hospitalised in the previous week.
Britain’s total infections have now risen up to 6,069,362, while 130,320 people who have tested positive have lost their life to the virus since the start of the pandemic.
It comes after scientists claimed Britain will not need another lockdown to stop another Covid wave overwhelming the NHS this winter after official data showed the outbreak is shrinking.
SAGE estimates the R rate — which shows how quickly the virus is spreading — is between 0.8 and 1.1. It means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 8 and 11 other people
The rate is lowest in the North East and Yorkshire, as well as the North West, with both areas having a rate of around 0.7 to 1
The Office for National Statistics claimed 722,300 people were infected on any given day in the seven-day spell ending July 31 — the equivalent of one in 75 people. This marked a 15 per cent drop on the week before, when the toll was upwards of 850,000.
And SAGE member ‘Professor Lockdown’ Neil Ferguson — who’s grim modelling led to the first lockdown — said he now believes the pandemic is something the UK will be able to manage with vaccines rather than ‘crisis measures’.
He told The Times: ‘I think it’s unlikely we will need a new lockdown or even social distancing measures of the type we’ve had so far.’
Fellow Government scientific advisor Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed, saying he believes the national health service will most likely be able to cope with the numbers of cases expected in the winter.
He said: ‘I suspect we won’t have to [impose any more]. The pinch point has always been pressure on the NHS and though it will be awkward for the NHS, so there will be pressure, I very much doubt they won’t be able to cope.’
But Boris Johnson has pressed ahead with plans to reintroduce restrictions by authorising contingency plans for ‘firebreak lockdowns’ should the NHS be overwhelmed cases by the end of the year.
SAGE member ‘Professor Lockdown’ Neil Ferguson (right) — who’s grim modelling led to the first lockdown — said he now believes the pandemic is something the UK will be able to manage with vaccines rather than ‘crisis measures’. Fellow Government scientific advisor Professor John Edmunds (left), an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed, saying he believes the national health service will most likely be able to cope with the numbers of cases expected in the winter
Boris Johnson (above) has authorised contingency plans for ‘firebreak lockdowns’ if the NHS is again overwhelmed with Covid cases during the winter months
Nearly 30 areas in England have not fully vaccinated their over-50 populations against Covid, official statistics have revealed as experts warn there are huge pockets of the population still vulnerable to the virus. Graph shows
Harehills South in Leeds has reached the fewest over-50s, with just 813 of the 1,562 living in the area receiving their second dose — 52 per cent of the population. Map shows: The proportion of adults who have had both Covid vaccine doses
Overall, 2.5million over-50s (11 per cent) have not yet got their second jab and 2million haven’t had their first (nine per cent)
Sources within Whitehall yesterday confirmed the government is prepared for ‘local, regional or national’ lockdowns in order to protect the health service from being swamped and reaching breaking point with cases.
The i reports the Prime Minister has given the green light to plans for ‘firebreak lockdowns’ should Covid cases cripple the NHS later this year.
Although scientists remain confident of the efficacy of Britain’s vaccines, Whitehall sources say fears persist over surging flu infections, a potential NHS staffing crisis and a rise in positive infections.
The senior Downing Street source said: ‘The Government believes it has got to grips with the pandemic following the vaccine rollout
‘Barring a new vaccine-beating strain, fears over a rise in infections similar to that seen last autumn are actually outweighed by other issues like an NHS staffing crisis and the likely resurgence in flu infections, and other respiratory diseases.
‘On top of Covid infections, these factors could tip the NHS back to the brink and force more lockdowns.’
It is understood that any subsequent lockdown would resemble the nation’s four-week ‘firebreak’ lockdown during November 2020.
The return of draconian restrictions would likely be short and during ‘school holidays and over Christmas’, the source adds.
Britain’s Covid outbreak is still flattening off, according to official statistics that dismissed hopes that the worst of the third wave was over.
Department of Health bosses posted another 31,808 cases on Friday, up seven per cent on the 29,622 recorded last week.
The number of victims dying with the virus – a measure which lags weeks behind infections – also increased by 35.3 per cent, jumping from 71 last week to 92.
But hospital admissions, which always turn before fatalities, continue to fall. There were 778 people hospitalised with Covid on Monday, down 16.2 per cent on the previous week.
The figures come as leading scientists warn achieving herd immunity against Covid is looking ever-increasingly impossible, with neither vaccines nor natural infections triggering ‘perfect’ protection.
Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia, said immunity against SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid – is likely to be short-lived.
But separate official data offered a glimmer of hope, revealing England’s shrinking Covid outbreak towards the end of July was real and marked the first time cases had genuinely fallen since the third wave took off.
Covid cases are rising among adults in their early twenties and the oldest teenagers in England, and are static among adults in their late twenties. Experts said this could be due to Freedom Day easings and the long daylight hours encouraging more socialising. Younger age groups tend to do more socialising than older age groups
Covid cases are still dropping week-on-week in all age groups, but the rate of decrease has slowed considerably among adults in their early twenties. It could switch to a rise in cases in the coming days
The Covid Symptom Study estimated cases fell by almost a quarter last week, after saying they had plateaued. It estimated 46,905 people are now catching Covid every day, down from almost 60,000 previously
No10’s top scientists claimed the R rate — which shows how quickly the coronavirus is spreading — has dipped below one for the first time in 12 weeks. The UK Health Security Agency said the reproduction rate is between 0.8 and 1.1. For comparison, last week’s figure stood at between 1.1 and 1.4.
Meanwhile, random swab-testing data — used by ministers to keep tabs on the size of the outbreak — estimated the number of infected people has also dropped for the first time since May.
Britain’s total infections have now risen up to 6,014,023, while 130,178 people who have tested positive have lost their life to the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Just under 47million adults in Britain (88.8 per cent) have now had a jab after another 35,500 first doses were dished out on Friday.
And 39million (73.8 per cent) are fully protected after NHS staff and volunteers put 172,692 second doses into people’s arms.
