There is “some limited evidence” that the recent sharp increase in new coronavirus cases in England is levelling off, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
New cases of Covid-19 in England were around 8,400 per day in the latest week up to 24 September – down from around 9,600 per day during the previous week, an ONS estimate said.
Scientists behind the Covid Symptoms Study app said their data also suggests the number of new Covid cases in the UK has “flattened” in the last four days.
They estimate there were nearly 21,000 new cases per day on average over the two weeks up to 28 September, with numbers highest in the north of England and in people under 30.
The ONS’s estimates of how much of the population is currently infected are based on testing a representative sample of people in households with or without symptoms.
It is different to the number published daily by the Department of Health and Social Care. That records positive cases in people with potential Covid symptoms who request tests.
On Thursday, 6,914 new cases were confirmed a slight drop from the day before, government figures show. This is down slightly on previous days and way below the number at the peak of the pandemic.