Covid infections fall 30 per cent nationally in lockdown
Coronavirus infections fell 30 per cent nationally between 13 and 24 November, with 96 people per 10,000 infected.
The recent national lockdown successfully lowered infection rates across the country.
More than 105,000 volunteers were tested in England during the second half of November as part of a study by Imperial College and Ipsos Mori to examine the levels of Covid-19 infections in the general population.
In the North West and North East, areas hit badly by the pandemic after the summer, infections fell by over 50 per cent.
Though the number of infections have been brought down, prevalence of the disease remains high, with around one in 100 people testing positive, compared to one in 80 between 16 October and 2 November. The areas with the highest rates of infection are the West Midlands, East Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber.
The R rate for the period was estimated to be 0.88. The study found there was more evidence of the virus in larger households, and those living in more deprived areas were more likely to test positive.
The study also found people of Asian ethnicity were more likely to test positive than white people.
Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock said: “Thanks to the huge efforts of the public over the last few weeks we have been able to get the virus more under control. This latest data shows we must keep our resolve and we cannot afford to take our foot off the pedal just yet, despite the encouraging fall in cases and progress on vaccines.”
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the programme at Imperial, added: “Our robust data offers encouraging signs for England’s epidemic, where we’re seeing a fall in infections at the national level and in particular across regions that were previously worst affected.
“These trends suggest that the tiered approach helped to curb infections in these areas and that lockdown has added to this effect.”
England’s national lockdown ends on Wednesday and will be replaced with a tougher tier system. London will enter tier 2.