Covid UK: QUARTER of UK people still work from home, according to ONS data

According to official figures, one in four Britons still works from home, despite the WFH guidelines being lifted two months ago.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 26% of people in the UK have worked from home in the past week, some or all.

One in ten people still only work from home, while 14 percent go to work within a few days.

The survey shows that of the 29.7 million workers in the UK, around 7.7 million are at least partially working from home, despite the no.

Brits were advised to temporarily return to remote work in December as the Omicron wave spread across the country. A third of employees had to work remotely.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson removed home counseling, Covid passes and face mask rules in the UK in January as part of his virus strategy.

Today was the next step in the project, with access to free antivirus tests completed for millions of people in the UK.

Data from ONS, based on a survey of 3,100 people, show that 12% of Britons worked alone from home in the 10 days until 27 March, with 14% working in hybrid mode.

The percentage of those working from home alone fell last year after reaching 37% in January 2020 during the peak of the devastating second wave.

However, the share of Brits working in hybrid mode remained relatively stable, making up between 10 and 17% of workers last year.

Meanwhile, only 57% of people only went to the office in the last week.

The figure marks a three percent drop in two weeks compared to 60 percent of Brits who went to 13 March in 10 days.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, the number of office workers alone has not risen to more than six out of ten, although it has been on an upward trend.

During the darkest days in the Gulf last winter, only a third of people did their jobs purely from their jobs.

The remaining 17% of workers interviewed by ONS last week who did not report the status of their headquarters were either absent or on annual leave.

Results come today as free Covid testing ends for millions of people in the UK.

Health Minister Sajid Javid said now is the “right” time to withdraw the proposal for universal testing and “focus resources” on those who need it most.

He told the nation: “We are now one of the most open and free countries in the world, and this is due to the decisions we have made as a country.”

A message was posted today on the government’s test order website that free Covid tests are now only available to certain groups. Most people will now have to buy bumpers from High Street stores for around £2 each.

Yesterday, NHS Test and Monitor workers were photographed dismantling nearly 500 test sites across the country.

Carers UK and the Alzheimer’s Association were among those critical of the move, with the latter saying it “puts the lives of dementia patients at risk” in nursing homes.

The end of the free test marks another step towards “living with the virus” after the legal requirement to wear face masks in the UK expired on January 27.

But that move came today as ONS gold standard Covid surveillance research showed the virus was more prevalent in the UK than at any time during the pandemic.

Last week, more than 4.1 million people, or roughly one in 13 people, were infected with the virus on any given day, according to estimates based on random swabs from more than 100,000 homes.

One in nine people contracted the virus in the infected cities of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

Record levels were 18% higher than the previous week and about a tenth higher than the previous peak of 3.7 million cases at the peak of the Omicron wave in early January.

ONS data shows that only 68% of adults wore a face mask (dark blue line) at some point in the week until March 27. The figure is the lowest since the Plan B measures in the UK were lifted in January. Only 29% of those interviewed said they had “always” or “often” maintained social distancing at one percent (blue line) before two weeks. Only four in ten reported performing a lateral flow test last week, compared to the 61% peak during the Omicron wave peak in January (green line).

Separate government data shows daily cases in the country have dropped every day this week.

But these data are based on testing the British themselves, rather than being a representative sample of the population. And it’s too soon to show that in the weekly ONS survey.

Meanwhile, ONS survey data shows that only 68% of adults wear face masks during the week leading up to March 27.

The figure is the lowest since the Plan B measures in the UK were lifted in January.

And only 29% of respondents said they “always” or “frequently” maintained social distancing more than two weeks ago.

Compared to the 61% peak during the Omicron wave peak in January, only four in 10 reported performing a lateral flow test in the past week.

Fewer Brits are now worried about the impact of the virus on their lives, with only 35% saying they are “very” or “fairly” worried, up from 66% in January.