Prevalence of Covid-19 in UK drops sharply for second straight week
The number of people infected with Covid-19 in the UK dropped sharply for a second week in a row last week, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
Last week, an estimated 1 in 610 people in England had the disease, down from 1 in 480 the week before.
There were drops of a similar scale in the other nations of the UK.
England has so far completed the second stage of its roadmap out of lockdown, with hospitality firms and non-essential retailers having opened last week.
The latest figures come as the UK fell off the list of the 20 countries worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, as measured by excess deaths.
The combination of a successful Covid-19 vaccine rollout and a third national lockdown the tally of daily deaths has dropped from a peak of nearly 2,000 to as low as single figures.
Yesterday, there were 18 more deaths from the disease, and 2,729 new cases.
Over 33m people have now received a first dose of the vaccine, of which 11m have been fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, separate data from the Department for Health showed that the infection rate ticked up slightly across the UK in the week after non-essential retailers and outdoor hospitality reopened.
The R value in England was between 0.8 and 1, while the growth rate was between -5 and -1.