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 Infection numbers in Britain are currently much higher than in other
western European countries, but have not risen above summer levels
following the return of schools in September in England despite
higher infection rates in children.
The REACT-1 study, led by Imperial College London found that
prevalence in 13 to 17-year-olds was 2.55% between Sept 9-27, with
prevalence in those aged 5 to 12 at 2.32%. Prevalence for every
adult age group was estimated below 1%.
"Prevalence was high and increasing in school aged children during
September," Paul Elliott, director of the study, told reporters,
adding that increased vaccination uptake in school-aged children and
adults would help limit transmission.
The study, which analysed 100,527 valid swabs, found that the
epidemic was growing among those 17 and under, with an estimated
reproduction "R" number of 1.18. An R number above 1 implies
exponential growth, while a number below 1 implies the epidemic is
shrinking.
The epidemic was estimated to be shrinking in 18-54 year olds, with
an R number of 0.81, while the epidemic was broadly steady among
those over 55.
While around 90% of over 18s have had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine,
vaccination rates of children are much lower, and broad vaccination
of those aged 12-15 only began last month.
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 "It just could have been
avoided to have this large amount of spread
amongst schoolchildren... if they'd done the
vaccinations earlier," Dr Brian Ferguson of the
University of Cambridge's Division of Immunology
told Reuters.
He added that while it looked like transmission
from children to adults was not going to be a
big problem, there was uncertainty heading into
the winter.
 In daily figures, Britain reported 42,776 new
COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest number
since mid-July, but health minister Sajid Javid
played down the fluctuations in numbers.
"Overall things feel quite stable at this point.
The numbers are a bit up, a bit down over the
last few weeks," he told Times Radio, adding
government strategy was working.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, additional
reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by William
Maclean, Toby Chopra and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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