Covid UK: ONS data shows cases are falling, but how prevalent is the virus in your area? –

Covid levels continued to drop in the UK last week, hitting their lowest levels since early December before the Omicron kicked off.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 1.2 million, or one in 45, carry the virus on any given day of the week through May 7, a quarter less than the previous week.

It’s the fifth week in a row that the ONS Weekly Infection Survey, currently the best barometer of the epidemic, reported a weekly decline in the number of cases despite the absence of any Covid restrictions.

The government relies on the study, which relied on swabs from 120,000 random people to detect the virus, as free testing has been removed for the vast majority of Britons.

Today’s estimate for the UK is the lowest since the week ended 16 December, when an estimated 1.2 million people were also infected. At this point, the Omicron tribe was just getting started, and in the weeks that followed there were more requests from some EU countries to impose a new blockade.

Ministers have also resisted renewed calls from NHS chiefs for tighter restrictions last month as the BA.2 variant, an offshoot of Omicron, pushed rates to record highs.

Meanwhile, the ONS estimates that one in 35 people brought Covid to Wales and Scotland and one in 55 people brought it to Northern Ireland last week.

Type your region below to see the percentage of people infected with Covid in the last week

The ONS estimates that one in every 35 people brought Covid to Wales and Scotland and one in 55 people brought it to Northern Ireland last week.

Rates are starting to stabilize in London and the East Midlands, but are falling in all other parts of England

Rates still seem to drop sharply in adults, but trends are less certain in children

Sarah Crofts, Head of Analytics for the COVID-19 Infection Survey, said: “It is encouraging to see the number of infections in the UK continue to decline, with numbers now reaching their lowest point since mid-December.

“Although the number of infections in the UK is around a third from a month ago, rates generally remain high. I would like to thank all our participants for their continued commitment to this core surveillance activity”.

Wales saw a decrease in the number of infections for the fourth week, with 88,300 people from 131,600 in the week to 7 May and also the lowest from the week to 16 December.

Meanwhile, Covid infections in Scotland are at their lowest since the week ended 23 December, with 158,200 people carrying the infection last week.

The virus is less common in Northern Ireland, where the number of infections fell to its lowest level since early November.

Over the past week, the percentage of people testing positive in all parts of England has continued to decline, but there are some signs that the decline is stabilizing in London and the East Midlands.

The virus is even more prevalent in the East Midlands, where one in 2.7, or 37 percent, was infected last week, followed by the Northwest, where it averaged 2.3 percent, or one in 43, to one in 41.

London and the North East have the lowest rates and only one in 52 people is estimated to have Covid.

The percentage of people who tested positive for coronavirus also declined across all age groups in England, except for those between grades 7 and 11, where the trend is uncertain.

The figures were even higher between the ages of 50-69 (2.6%) and those over 70 (2.4%).

It comes after the government stopped publishing daily Covid statistics earlier this week. After free testing was phased out and the country entered the “living with Covid” phase of the pandemic, there have been increasing demands to clean up infection, hospitalization and death rates.

In the meantime, it was announced yesterday that the highly anticipated Covid No10 investigation will examine how severely the blockades affect the mental health and children of the country.

The scope of the independent investigation will be expanded to include the wider impact of the pandemic restrictions, officials said.

It was feared that the investigation would fall into the same trap as previous reports that focused directly on lives lost due to Covid, and stipulated that the UK should be jailed for longer.

Since then, data have been collected showing that the benefits of blockades have been exaggerated and the broader effects underestimated.

Baroness Heather Hallett is chairing the investigation, which currently covers 26 issues. It will have the power to summon witnesses, including the Prime Minister, to testify.

After seeing more than 20,000 responses to the initial commission offer last month, the main complaint was that they were too limited.

The study will now also examine the unequal impact of the pandemic on cooperation between ethnic minorities and local governments.

Children have suffered major disruptions in their education during the pandemic, although they are at negligible risk from the virus.

Psychiatrists have described the pandemic as the “biggest blow” to mental health in generations, after a record 4.3 million mental health applications in 2021.