COVID-19 cases in England may be leveling off despite a recent spike in the number of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) COVID-19 cases in England may be leveling off despite a recent spike in the number of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday.
"While the percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 has decreased since the start of the study (26 April 2020), modelling suggests it has been rising slightly since the lowest recorded estimate, which was in June. There is now evidence to suggest that this trend may be levelling off," the ONS said.
According to the ONS figures, 28,300 people in England had the coronavirus during the week ending on August 2, for an average of 1 in 1,900 people, compared to the 35,700 cases estimated to have been infected during the previous week (July 20-26).
The ONS, which does not include the number of cases and infections in care homes and hospitals, also found that from July 27 to August 2, there were around 3,700 COVID-19 cases per day within the community population, a figure that accounts for 0.68 new infections per 10,000 people.
The government's scientific advisory board reported on Friday the latest reproduction number - which measures the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person - for the UK ranges now from 0.8 to 1.0, an increase compared to last week's 0.8 to 0.9.
According to the latest figure released by the Department of Health and Social Care, 308,134 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the UK since the beginning of the pandemic, and 46,413 have died after contracting the virus.
