The number of latest Covid cases reported within the UK has now fallen below 25,000 the uk kecorded 24,950 new infections on Monday – a drop of 15,000 on 39,950 cases every week ago the number of latest cases fell for a sixth day during a row – the primary time since November, during England’s second national lockdown.
But immunologist Prof Peter Openshaw said while he was “cautiously pleased,” further daily data would show if it had been a sustained fall or a “just a blip”.
Prof Openshaw, who sits on the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “It is exciting to ascertain those rather encouraging figures, but there are some delays in reporting the figures and we’re still expecting the complete data to be released by the Office for National Statistics.
“So let’s not get overexcited.”
Downing Street said earlier that while the autumn in infections was “encouraging,” the prime minister believed the state is “not out of the woods yet”.
The PM’s spokesman said the pandemic was “not over” which “we should still expect to ascertain an increase just in case numbers” after the govt lifted most legal restrictions on social contact in England every week ago.
The final relaxation of Covid rules included the removal of limits on the amount of individuals who can meet or attend events and therefore the reopening of nightclubs.
Prof Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia previously told the BBC’s Jim Reed that “it [would] not be until about next Friday before the info includes the impact” of the 19 July unlocking.
The first few days after unlocking also saw a sustained period of sunny weather across the united kingdom . Scientists advising the govt have consistently said that the virus is a smaller amount likely to spread when people are meeting outdoors.
The scale of the autumn has come as a surprise to even the foremost optimistic scientists – and is why many are interpreting it with a touch caution.
One suggestion is that the decrease could look better than it actually is due to a growing reluctance of individuals to return forward for tests It will be crucial to ascertain if the drop translates into an identical fall in hospitalisations during a week’s time saying that, it has been clear for the past few weeks that the speed of increase in infections had begun to slow.
Fears of 100,000 cases each day or more look unlikely now. But it is also important to be realistic about what’s likely to happen government scientists believe we are entering an extended peak where infection levels are getting to bobble around for a short time the impact of the 19 July easing has yet to be felt for one thing. that would tip the trend back upwards.
But the hope is that the levels of immunity built up along side a degree of cautious behaviour will mean any rise are going to be short-lived.