The UK on Sunday reported seven deaths within 28 days of a positive CCP virus test. This is the first time in nearly seven months that the death toll has fallen to single digits.
The number of new cases reported on Sunday has also dropped to 1,730, the lowest number since Sept. 2, 2020.
Complete figures by date of death or specimen date—which are a few days behind—show 13 deaths and 2,160 new cases on April 9.
The daily number of people who received the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has hit a record high on Saturday, at 475,230.
Monday is the beginning of the stage two of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of the lockdown.
Non-essential shops, hairdressers, zoos, theme parks, and outdoor hospitality in England opened their doors for the first time in over three months.
But people from different households won’t be able to meet indoors at least until May 17.
“That’s why we just need to be cautious,” the prime minister said.
Under the government plan, pubs and restaurants can open indoors, and cinemas and hotels will reopen on May 17, and all legal limits on social contact will possibly be removed from June 21 at the earliest if all goes well.
Tim Spector, a King’s College London professor who created the COVID Symptom Study mobile app, is quite optimistic.
“Someone who has been fully vaccinated, according to our data and the trial data, suggests they have a 20th of the normal risk, which means their risk is about one in 2,800,” he said.
“So if they’re meeting someone with equally low risk, the chances of those two giving it to each other are really absolutely tiny.”
Spector said that the numbers put into context means people can “be a little bit more relaxed than has been suggested.”
“I think it’s all going very well, really low rates across the country, vaccinations going well, and I think we can look forward to a relaxing summer,” he concluded.
