Official UK Covid cases fall by a fifth in a week to 68,214
Official Covid cases fall by a fifth in a week despite warnings that outbreak is actually still creeping up – as daily deaths halve and hospitalisations plunge to lowest level since before Christmas
There were 68,214 new positive tests over the last 24 hours, down 22.6 per cent on the 88,085 last week Daily Covid deaths also dropped by 48.3 per cent to 276, down from the 534 recorded last Wednesday ONS figures suggest 2.8million people in England had Covid on any given day during the week to February 5Infections were still being driven by children, with the highest rates in unvaccinated primary school students
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
Britain’s official Covid case count has fallen by a fifth in a week, Government dashboard figures revealed today despite separate statistics suggesting the outbreak may already be bouncing back.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures showed there were 68,214 new positive tests over the last 24 hours, down 22.6 per cent on the 88,085 recorded last week. Daily infections have been in freefall for over a week now, with hospitalisations and deaths also receding.
But a major surveillance report — which randomly tests tens of thousands of people and doesn’t rely on people coming forward for swabs — shows the opposite trend.
Analysts at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), whose projections are watched closely by ministers, estimate England’s Covid outbreak actually grew in size by 7 per cent last week. They claimed around one in 19 people, or 2.8million, were infected on any given day in the week ending February 5 but admitted the trend was ‘uncertain’.
Hospitalisations also fell, dropping 15.7 per cent to 1,196 on February 5, the latest date UK-wide data is available for. It marked the lowest daily figure since before Christmas.
Meanwhile, Britain today logged another 276 deaths. The figure, which relates to people who have died within 28 days of testing positive, is half of the toll posted last week.
It comes as Boris Johnson declared all remaining coronavirus restrictions are set to be axed from the end of this month if the positive trends continue. The step was greeted with roars in the chamber, with many Tories having been pushing for the government to draw a line under the pandemic.
No10 is also facing calls to ditch the daily Covid fatality updates, with figures suggesting that the true number of people succumbing to the virus is up to 40 per cent lower than publicised.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures suggest 2.8million people in England had the virus daily in the week up to February 5, up 7.3 per cent on the 2.6million estimated the week before
In other coronavirus developments today:
An infectious disease expert said giving healthy primary school children Covid jabs is pointless because most have already had the mild Omicron strain and recovered;A health minister was forced to defend the Government for ‘terrifying’ millions into not coming forward for treatment during the pandemic after Sajid Javid warned that the waiting list will keep rising for another two years;Care bosses called for rapid point-of-care Covid tests to be brought into retirement homes to slash the number of staff isolating unnecessarily; A major study suggested Covid survivors are at a 63 per cent increased risk of having heart attack within a year — regardless of their age or how ill they were.
The dashboard data also showed 31,720 more boosters were dished out yesterday, taking the total number of people fully protected against the virus to 67.6million in Britain.
Some 10,804 first doses were given out, meaning 52.5million have had a single jab — 91.2 per cent of the eligible over-12 population.
And 48.6million are now double-jabbed after 24,721 second doses were put in the arms, with 84.6 per cent having at least two.
The daily case figures are based on testing which can fluctuate heavily but gold-standard ONS data showing the opposite trend in infections uses around 100,000 random swabs to estimate the total number of people infected with the virus.
The ONS estimated that Wales has seen its infections fall in the most recent week, dropping 13 per cent to 121,200 people carrying the virus on any given day.
But infections increased in Scotland from 185,100 to 211,300 (14 per cent) and Northern Ireland from 136,300 to 145,600 (six per cent).
In England, Covid was most prevalent in the South East, where one in 17 people were thought to have the virus during the week.
Rates were lowest in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands and South West, all of which saw one in 20 infected on any given day.
Secondary school students in England had the next highest infection rates after primary school children, with one in 11 pupils in year seven to 11 thought to have the virus on any given day.
Covid deaths for England and Wales by week and date reported. The above figures show the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test (blue) are now 40 per cent higher than the number of deaths actually triggered by Covid (green bar). The number of Covid deaths where the virus is mentioned on the death certificate (red) is also shown
Covid deaths within 28 days of a positive test (blue) and by mentions on death certificates (red) initially tracked each other closely in England. But in recent weeks the two have now diverged significantly. The data is by date of occurrence
The graph shows that proportion of Covid fatalities in England where the virus was not the underlying cause of death. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows this figure rose to 28.8 per cent on January 28
The ONS data also showed Wales has seen its infections fall in the most recent week, dropping 13 per cent to 121,200. Infections increase slightly in Scotland from 185,100 to 211,300 (14 per cent) and Northern Ireland from 136,300 to 145,600 (six per cent)
Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: ‘While we see changes in trends week to week, infections have continued to be high across the UK since the Omicron variant became dominant in December.
‘In the latest week, Northern Ireland has experienced a notable increase in infections to the highest level we have seen for any UK country so far.
‘Meanwhile, the most recent trend is uncertain in England where high levels of infection are driven by primary school aged children.
‘There has also been a recent increase in Scotland while Wales has seen a fall in infections.’
It comes as the Prime Minister announced all Covid rules — including the legal requirement to self-isolate — would be ditched a month earlier than planned.
Mr Johnson said he would lay out the full strategy after the half-term recess on February 21, but as long as ‘encouraging’ trends continue restrictions can go in England four weeks earlier than the current expiry date of March 24.
The Plan B requirements for people to work from home where possible was dropped last month, along with most face mask rules and compulsory Covid passes.
The country has been subject to virtually unprecedented peacetime restrictions since early 2020. Downing Street stressed that people with infectious diseases should not go to workplaces.
But the next logical step for Government could be axing free Covid testing — which has been costing billions of pounds.
It is far from clear that Scotland and Wales will follow Mr Johnson’s lead – as the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon and Labour’s Mark Drakeford have been far more cautious. Travel rules could also stay in place on people coming to the UK.
The news could give Mr Johnson a much-needed boost as he battles to cling on amid damaging Partygate allegations.
‘Mr Speaker I can tell the house today, that it is my intention to return on the first day after the half term recess to present our strategy for living with Covid,’ Mr Johnson told MPs.
‘Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self isolate if you test positive, a full month early.’
