Coronavirus infections in England fall to lowest level since October
5 March 2021, 14:14 | Updated: 5 March 2021, 15:16
The number of people with Covid-19 in homes across England has continued to fall, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Around one in 220 people in private households in England had Covid-19 between February 21 and 27.
This is the equivalent of 248,100 people and down from around one in 145, or 373,700 people, for the period of February 13 to 19.
It is the lowest figure since the week to October 1 when it was one in 240.
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However it comes as the UK's coronavirus R number rose slightly for the first time since January, to between 0.7 and 0.9.
And the number of people infected in England is still high compared to last summer. In the week to August 25, around one in 2,000 people had coronavirus.
The ONS said, in the latest figures, the percentage of people testing positive had decreased in all regions except for north-east England, the East Midlands and eastern England, where it said the trend was uncertain.
North-east England had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for Covid-19 in the week to February 27 - around one in 150 people.
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The other estimates for England are:
- One in 160 in the West Midlands
- One in 185 for the East Midlands
- One in 190 for north-west England
- One in 195 for London
- One in 225 for Yorkshire and the Humber
- One in 260 for eastern England
- One in 340 for south-east England
- One in 365 for south-west England
In Wales, the latest estimate was one in 285, down from 205, and in Northern Ireland it was one in 325, down from one in 195.
The estimate for Scotland for the week to February 27 was around one in 335 people, down from one in 225.
The latest data is based on swab tests from 684,875 people in the UK, regardless of whether they had symptoms, and does not include hospitals and care homes.
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