Coronavirus infections STABLE in week after shops and schools reopened, new stats show

CORONAVIRUS infection rates were stable in the week after shops and schools reopened, new figures show.

Around 25,000 people in England had Covid-19 at any given time between June 14 and June 27, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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This is equivalent to 0.04 per cent of the population, or around one in 2,200 people, the ONS said.

In the previous two weeks – from June 8 to June 21 – an estimated 51,000 people in the community or 1 in 1,100 were infected with Covid-19.

The latest figures, published today, cover the two-week period after non-essential shops reopened and some school children returned to class in England on June 15.

Most people who have been infected with Covid-19 would have developed symptoms after 14 days of exposure to the virus, experts believe.

Easing impact

It’s understood to be the first time that infection rates in the community have stabilised after an easing of lockdown measures.

Experts have previously warned that they would expect to see Covid cases rise again if people do not continue to follow social distancing rules.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that pubs and restaurants could reopen on July 4, Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said: “Covid-19 has gone down due to the efforts of everyone but is still in general circulation.

“If we do not follow social distancing guidance then cases will rise again.”

Data limitations

The ONS data only looks at infection rates in the community and does not include care homes and hospitals, or other institutions.

Uncertainty surrounding the estimates means there is no evidence that “the current trend is anything other than flat”, the ONS said.

Because of this uncertainty, “the actual number of individuals testing positive in the period June 14 to June 27 could be higher or lower than in the two previous periods”.

 

 

The ONS said its estimates suggest the percentage testing positive has decreased over time since the first measurement on April 26 and “this downward trend appears to have now levelled off”.

“Because of the small numbers of positive tests currently recorded by the survey, we expect some fluctuation in these estimates, which have relatively high levels of uncertainty,” the ONS explained.

“This week’s estimate of new infections appears to be higher than in recent weeks, but we do not have sufficient evidence to report this as an increase.

“We are continuing to monitor this to see how it develops over time.”

In separate data on just over 3,200 people given an antibody test, around six per cent of the population are thought to have antibodies against coronavirus.

This equates to one in 16 or 2.8 million people in England.