Covid cases increasing across the UK, latest data reveals
Cases of Covid-19 are on the rise across the UK, according to date released by the Office of National Statistics.
In England, it is estimated that one in every 75 people in private households had coronavirus in the week ending July 17, equivalent to 741,700 people, which is the highest number since the week to January 30.
The other nations are not showing as high a percentage of cases but they are still rising.
For example, in Wales one in every 210 people were thought to have the virus at the same point, while in Northern Ireland it was one in 170 and Scotland showed one in 80 were infected.
The trend shows cases are still rising in all the UK nations, except for Scotland where things are more uncertain due to the sample size available at the time.
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Kara Steel, Senior Statistician for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: “Infections continue to increase across the UK, with rates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland similar to those seen in February.
“With infection rates rising, keeping a close eye on the data is crucial to see how the vaccination programmes are protecting many from infection and developing severe symptoms.
“Continuing to monitor the infection rates is crucial going forward, particularly as we have not yet seen the impact of the easing of restrictions in our data, therefore I would like to thank every single one of our participants for their continued contribution.”
Additionally, the coronavirus reproduction number, or R value, in England remains unchanged from last week and is between 1.2 and 1.4, according to the latest Government figures.
An R number between 1.2 and 1.4 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people.