ONS data, based on smears collected from randomly selected households, show that in the week ended 9 April, some 4.42 million people in the UK had Covid, about one in 15 people, up from 1 in 13 last week. . Infections fell in England and Scotland from one in 13 to one in 14 and one in 17 respectively, but remained relatively stable in Wales, where for the second week in a row about one in 13 people are believed to have Covid. In Northern Ireland, infections have dropped from about one in 16 to about one in 19 people. “In most parts of the UK, infections have, fortunately, begun to decline. “It’s too early to tell if we have reached the peak of the infections and the infections as a whole remain high,” said Sarah Crofts, head of analytical results for the Covid-19 Infection Survey. “We will continue to closely monitor the data forward.” While data show that overall Covid levels in the UK have declined from recent highs, the situation varies, not only between but also within countries. In England, contamination levels have fallen in recent weeks in the north-west, east of England, London, the south-east and the south-west. However, they have increased in the northeast, where it now has the highest percentage of positive people, at 7.9%. In Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands the trend last week is unclear. Decreases have been recorded in England in most age groups. However, the trend in the week ending April 9 was unclear for school-age 7 to 11-year-olds and those aged 70 and over, with 7.2% of the latter believing they had Covid in the most recent week, the highest level so far for that. age group. According to recent hospital data, the number of Covid patients in hospitals and admissions seems to have reached its highest point in the UK, with indications that both may now fall. However, levels remain high: 15,399 Covid patients were hospitalized in the UK alone on Wednesday, and experts say very high Covid rates are causing a great deal of frustration in the NHS, including delays in efforts to reduce the long delays of people in need of hospitalization.
