Positive CCP virus cases are falling in most of the UK, though infection levels remain high, according to official data released on Friday.
In England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, positive tests are decreasing, though infections in Wales remains stable, statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey suggest.
But the infection rate remains high across the country. During the week up to Jan. 30, an estimated 1 in 65 people in England and Northern Ireland tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus.
Around 1 in 70 people in Wales and 1 in 115 people in Scotland had the virus during the same period.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the latest data is “encouraging, but shows that we’re not there yet.”
“It’s vital that we all continue to play our part & follow the rules to suppress COVID,” he wrote on Twitter.
Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said on Wednesday that the UK was already “past the peak” of the current wave of the pandemic.
Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty speaks during a press conference about the CCP virus inside 10 Downing Street in London, UK, on March 9, 2020. Alberto Pizzoli /pool/AFP via Getty Images
“Most of my colleagues think we are past the peak,” though it “doesn’t mean you could never have another peak,” he said at a press conference held in Downing Street.
“But, at this point in time, provided people continue to follow the guidelines, we are on the downward slope of cases, of hospitalisations, and of deaths, in all four of the nations of the United Kingdom,” he said.
On Friday, UK health authorities reported 19,114 new cases of the CCP virus across the UK countries, and a further 1,014 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
A total of 10,971,047 people across the UK have now received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Public Health England said.
The UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said on Friday that new data has confirmed all the approved vaccines meet strict regulatory standards for safety.
