Covid infection levels fell sharply across UK last week
The number of people infected with Covid-19 across the UK fell sharply last week, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show.
After a slight rise last week, the number of people with the disease in England for the week ending 10 April was about one in 480.
That’s a considerable drop from the week before, when the figure was one in 320. There were drops of a similar scale in the other nations of the UK.
The latest figures cover the period immediately prior to the reopening of retail and hospitality facilities in England, which has seen people rush back to high streets and pubs.
At the same time, a new cluster of cases linked to the South African variety of the disease have been identified in South London.
More than 40 cases of the potentially vaccine-resistant South African Covid variant were found in Lambeth and Wandsworth this week, forcing a wave of surge testing in several South London boroughs.
It is thought the cases may have originated from people travelling from African countries adjacent to South Africa in February.