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life on mars
New coronavirus infections appear to be increasing only slightly in England and may even be levelling off, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggests.
The findings imply that despite*local spikes, England and Wales are managing to keep a lid on the virus at a national scale as other countries in Europe struggle to prevent a second wave.
The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies released an analysis yesterday estimating that the indirect effects of the lockdown and pandemic would be responsible for more than 80,000 deaths, more than those from Covid-19 itself. They said that this number was still far less than the tally if the virus had been left unchecked.
The ONS’s weekly household survey takes samples from 120,000*people in England and Wales to estimate the prevalence of the disease. In the last week of July, 53 people tested positive, equating to an estimated one in 2,200 people in Wales and one in 1,900 in England. Because the numbers of people infected are so low, the estimates come with a high degree of uncertainty and are unable to provide meaningful data on places where there might be localised spikes.
The most likely assessment of the ONS is that there has been a small rise in cases since the beginning of June but that now appears to be flattening out.
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