COVID-19: 15.3% of England’s population estimated to have had coronavirus by mid-January
Written by News on 03/02/2021
About one in seven people in private households in England had contracted coronavirus by mid-January, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates.
The figure is equivalent to 6.9 million people – 15.3% of the population.
The estimate is up from one in nine people in December last year, and one in 11 people in November.
The numbers are the proportion of the population who are likely to have tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19, based on blood test results from a sample group aged 16 and over.
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Some 21% of people in London are estimated to have tested positive for antibodies in January.
This was followed by the West Midlands (18.8%) and Yorkshire & the Humber (18.7%).
The South West was estimated to have the lowest level (8.3%), followed by the South East (10.2%) and the East of England (10.8%).
In Wales, the latest figures show one in nine people had coronavirus by mid-January (up from one in 14 in December).
For Scotland, the estimate was one in 10, up from one in 13, and for Northern Ireland it was one in 11, up from one in 14.
The age group with the highest percentage of antibodies varies across the UK, as does the positivity rate for antibodies across the English regions.
New research from UK Biobank shows that 8.8% of the UK population had been infected with coronavirus by December 2020, rising as high as 12.4% in London and as low as 5.5% in Scotland.
The study found that coronavirus antibodies last for at least six months after infection for the majority of people who have had the virus, with 99% of participants retaining antibodies for three months after being infected, and 88% for the full six months.
UK Biobank chief scientist Professor Naomi Allen said: “Although we cannot be certain how this relates to immunity, the results suggest that people may be protected against subsequent infection for at least six months following natural infection.”
It also found that the proportion of the population with antibodies to Sars-CoV-2 (seroprevalence, which indicates past infection) rose from 6.6% at the start of the study period, to 8.8% by the end of it.
(c) Sky News 2021: COVID-19: 15.3% of England’s population estimated to have had coronavirus by mid-January
