COVID-19: England’s COVID infection rate decreases slightly but remains high – ONS
Written by News on 22/01/2021
The percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 in England has decreased slightly but remains high, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
About one in 55 people who were not in care homes, hospitals or other institutional settings had the virus in the week ending 16 January.
In the last full infection survey published two weeks ago, one in 50 people had the virus.
Live COVID news from UK and around the world
Worryingly, infection rates in Northern Ireland jumped from one in 200 in the previous survey to one in 60, as the country extended its lockdown to 5 March.
Rates in Scotland and Wales have levelled off, with one in 100 and one in 70 people infected respectively.
In England, London and the North East still have the highest infection rates, with about one in 35 people estimated to have the virus in the capital.
The percentage of positive cases has decreased in London, down from one in 28 – but rates are increasing in the North East.
Both have infection rates more than twice as high as the lowest regions in England.
However, there was some good news as the percentage of people infected with the new variant has fallen in London, the South East and the East of England.
Infection rates in secondary schools have also fallen, with only the children of key workers and vulnerable students attending.
All other age groups are only showing signs of cases levelling off.
Analysis: This survey reveals new areas of concern across the UK
By Thomas Moore, science correspondent
Lockdown is working, but not everywhere.
That’s the take-home message from the latest snapshot of the UK’s epidemic from the Office for National Statistics.
Across England, the number of people infected with the virus fell from one in 50 just before lockdown to one in 55 in the week leading up to 16 January.
But, as ever, that masks a complicated geographical variation in the virus’s spread.
In London, the South East and East of England, which were in Tier 4 for longest in the run-up to Christmas, cases dropped sharply.
London still had the highest infection rate – one in 35 people – but that was down from one in 28.
The concern will be what is happening in the North East.
Despite being under the same restrictions as the rest of the country, the infection rate rose steeply over the two week period from one in 60 to one in 40.
The infection rate in Northern Ireland has also more than doubled.
The rise in those areas is almost certainly due to momentum from social mixing over Christmas and New Year. Further restrictions may be needed to bend the curve.
The cases of today are the hospital admissions of the next fortnight. So the NHS in those regions will face increasing pressure.
Elsewhere there will be some hope for hard-pressed doctors and nurses that the corner is being turned. Admissions are still eye-wateringly high, but at least there is an indication that numbers will soon start to decline.
(c) Sky News 2021: COVID-19: England’s COVID infection rate decreases slightly but remains high – ONS
