LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th April, 2021) An estimated seven in 10 adults (68.3%) in England would have tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus from a blood sample in the week to April 11, as a result of having had an infection or a COVID-19 vaccine in the past, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday.
According to the survey conducted by the ONS in partnership with University of Oxford, the University of Manchester, Public Health England and the Wellcome Trust, the current level of protection is up, compared to the 53.1% estimated two weeks earlier.
As for the rest of the territories making up the United Kingdom, the proportion of COVID-19 antibodies among the adult population was 61.1%, 62.2% and 57.8% in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, respectively.
"Across all four countries of the UK, there is a clear pattern between vaccination and testing positive for COVID-19 antibodies but the detection of antibodies alone is not a precise measure of the immunity protection given by vaccination," the ONS said, adding that all figures are for people in private households and do not include settings such as hospitals and care homes.
On Tuesday, the UK health authorities reported 2,685 new COVID-19 cases, plus a further 17 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, for a total of 4,409,631 cases and 127,451 fatalities since the pandemic began last year.
According to government data, at least 33,843,580 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 13.2 million, accounting for 25% of the country's adult population, have had the corresponding second dose.
