UK close to "bottom levels" of coronavirus - Prof Jonathan Van Tam

29 April 2021, 05:59 | Updated: 29 April 2021, 06:01

England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam has said the UK is at the "bottom level" in terms of cases of coronavirus.

Prof Van Tam said yesterday at a Covid-19 press conference led by Matt Hancock: ""We are really in very low levels that are comparable to where we were in September last year.

"We are running as a typical seven-day average at just over 2,000 people testing positive per day.

"My sense is that probably we are at or close to the bottom at the moment in terms of this level of disease in the UK."

Professor Van Tam also said the “disappearance of our third wave” was due to the public following the rules, while the vaccination programme had “undoubtedly helped” in recent months.

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At the press conference last night Health Secretary Matt Hancock also said seven in 10 adults now have protective Covid-19 antibodies.

He said the presence of antibodies was a "measure of the protection that we have collectively built up right across the country".

He referred to data released by the Office for National Statistics, which visited more than 20,000 people to measure antibodies in their blood.

He said: "In the older age groups, those who got vaccinated first are much more likely to have Covid-19 antibodies.

"Now seven in 10 adults have protective Covid-19 antibodies, this is the vaccination programme in action."

The Health Secretary announced 60 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured for a booster programme later this year.

Mr Hancock also confirmed 60 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured for a booster programme later this year: "To keep us safe and free here, while we get this disease under control across the whole world, we have been working on a programme of booster shots for over a year now.

"And we've backed some of the only clinical trials in the world looking specifically at booster shots.

"I'm delighted to be able to tell you that we've secured a further 60 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be used alongside others as part of our booster shot programme later this year."