Covid infections in households increase but rate has 'stabilised', ONS says
An estimated 618,700 people in homes in England - equating to around 1 in 90 people - had Covid-19 in the last week of October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey.
The figures represent a jump from 568,100 people, or 1.04% of the population, who were estimated to have Covid-19 in the period between October 17 to 23.
Although this was an increase, the rate of increase is "less steep compared with previous weeks”, the ONS said.
It said the rate of new infections “appears to have stabilised in recent weeks at around 50,000 per day”.
Older teenagers and young adults continue to have the highest positivity rates although cases "now appear to be levelling off", the ONS said.
However, all other age groups have seen an increase over recent weeks.
England
There were an average of 45,700 new cases per day of Covid-19 in private households in England between October 25 and 31, according to the latest estimates from the ONS.
This is around 8.38 new infections for every 10,000 people per day.
This is down from an estimated 51,900 new cases per day in the previous week.
The rates are estimated to have increased in all regions over recent weeks, except north-east England where they “appear to have levelled off”.
The North West and Yorkshire and the Humber continue to have the highest infection rates.
The lowest rates continue to be in south-east England, south-west England and eastern England.
Wales
Infection rates in Wales have increased in recent weeks but not as steeply as the previous weeks.
During the most recent week from October 25 to 31, the ONS estimates that 27,100 people in Wales had Covid-19 equating to 1 in 110 people.
Northern Ireland
The ONS said in recent weeks they had not seen the same level of increase in Northern Ireland compared to the start of the study.
However, it said it was too early to say whether rates have levelled off.
During the last week of October, modelling suggested that 24,900 people in Northern Ireland had Covid-19, equating to 1 in 75.
Scotland
Scotland's figures rely on two weekly periods unlike the other nations of the UK.
In the most recent fortnight from October 18 to 31, the ONS estimated that an average of 47,300 in Scotland were infected, equating to around 1 in 110 people.
This analysis is based on over 689,000 tests gathered from across the UK whether or not participants had symptoms. The survey does not include infection rates within care homes, hospitals or other institutional settings.
The incidence rate is not the same as the reproduction number, R Value, which is the average number of secondary infections produced by one person.
Head of analysis for the survey, Ruth Studley, said: "At a national level we are seeing infections slow across England and Wales but they are still increasing. Within England, every region apart from the North East has shown increased levels of infection.
"The level of infection in young adults and older teenagers appears to have levelled off recently. However, they continue to be the most likely to be infected despite increases in all other age groups."