English COVID infections stabilise at 50,000 per day: ONS estimate

[November 06, 2020]    LONDON (Reuters) - New COVID-19 infections in England have stabilised at around 50,000 a day, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday, indicating a levelling off in the steep rise of cases even before England was pushed into a second national lockdown.

Soldiers carry out tests at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing centre in Liverpool, Britain, November 6, 2020. REUTERS/Phil Noble

The ONS said there was an estimated daily 45,700 new cases per day in the week to Oct 31, down slightly from the previous week's estimate of 51,900.

"Incidence appears to have stabilised at around 50,000 new infections per day," the ONS said in its weekly infection survey. "The infection rate has increased in recent weeks, but the rate of increase is less steep compared with previous weeks."

An estimated 618,700 people had the disease during the most recent week, up from 568,100 the previous week.

That equates to an estimated 1 in 90 people, an increase in prevalence from 1 in 100 people the week before.

The ONS looks to estimate infection numbers in the community beyond those who have been tested, giving an estimate of prevalence that is unaffected by testing capacity.

The infection survey found there had been increases in positivity everywhere apart from the north-east, parts of which had been under some of the strictest local lockdown measures, before the new national lockdown came in on Thursday.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Andy Bruce; editing by Kate Holton)

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