UK: Virus infection rates fall in almost all localities

LONDON

Almost 95% of all local authorities across the UK on Monday recorded a week-on-week fall in the number of coronavirus infections, according to official figures.

Only 23 of the 380 local authority areas saw a weekly rise in the rate of infections, while 354 areas (93%) saw a fall. The majority of counties across all four nations of the UK are now reporting weekly drops in COVID-19 infection rates.

In Wales, the county of Ceredigion on the west coast recorded a total of 20 cases with a rolling rate of 27.5 in the week from Feb. 9, representing a drop of almost half.

But Rutland, a small county in the East Midlands, England, saw a total of 162 cases with a rolling rate of 405.7 in the week from Feb. 9, up nearly 53%.

On Monday, quarantine hotels across England began checking in their first arrivals from 33 so-called “red list” countries. Nearly 5,000 rooms at 16 hotels have been secured, with an additional 50,000 extra rooms available on standby.

As of Monday over 15.3 million people have been administered a first dose of the vaccine, or 22.5% of the population, with 539,630 people having gotten a second jab.

On Monday, 9,765 people had contracted the virus. On Feb. 9-15, 88,060 people had a confirmed positive test result, down 29% from the previous week.

On Feb. 9-15, there were 4,598 deaths, a 26.2% drop from the previous seven days.

The latest R range for the UK stands at 0.7-0.9, with the current growth rate at -5% to -2% per day. The R number is a mechanism used to rate the virus’s ability to spread, with R being the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to.

The UK reached a milestone on Sunday, when all four top priority groups of vulnerable people received a first dose of the vaccine with now over 15 million people, nearly a quarter of the population, having been inoculated against the virus.