Britain’s daily Covid cases fall by 10% in a week in sign Easter DIDN’T cause infections to spike
Britain’s daily Covid cases fall by 10% in a week with 2,491 positive tests while deaths drop by 16% to 45 in sign Easter DIDN’T cause infections to spike
- Covid infections have fallen by 10 per cent in a week and deaths have dropped by 16 per cent, data showed
- Cases have mostly pointed downwards over the last few days, but rises were seen on Monday and Tuesday
- Boris Johnson allowed pubs and restaurants to reopen for outdoor service in England on Monday
Britain’s daily Covid cases have fallen by 10 per cent in a week, according to official figures that suggest Easter hasn’t caused the country’s outbreak to spike — despite fears infections would pick up after the four-day bank holiday weekend.
Department of Health bosses posted another 2,491 positive tests today and 45 deaths – down 16 per cent on last Wednesday.
Cases have mostly continued to point downwards over the past few days, despite concerns the bank holiday break could spark a resurgence of the virus.
Experts said today they ‘can’t see anything’ in the data to suggest Easter had sparked a spike in infections, although they would want to wait another week before being certain.
Pubs and restaurants were again allowed to serve customers outdoors in England on Monday amid promising data, while gyms, shops and hairdressers were also told they could start welcoming in customers.
Any impact from this latest easing is not expected to be seen in statistics until next Sunday at the earliest, because it takes about a week for someone who has caught the virus to develop symptoms and get a positive test.
It comes after studies suggested Covid antibody levels have stopped rising among older people in a sign Britain may still be a way off herd immunity.
Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline he was yet to see anything that makes him worried about a possible Easter spike.
‘I don’t think there’s an obvious spike associated with Easter,’ he said. ‘(But) I would want to wait another week or so before I’m comfortable that Easter has not triggered another surge.’
Professor Hunter said it was normal for the number of cases detected to fall over the holiday period, because Britons are too busy meeting friends and relatives outdoors to be bothered to get swabbed for the virus.
But he added positive swabs were normally likely to go up in the preceding weeks, as people return to their normal routines and decide to get swabbed if they are suffering symptoms.
