People being given Covid vaccine
(Picture: PA Wire)The UK has recorded a further 39,656 Covid cases on Wednesday, according to the Government’s latest daily figures.
This compares with 41,130 positive cases reported the day before.
The daily case numbers includes reinfections in England and Northern Ireland that are more than 90 days after a previous positive test.
The total is based on positive lab-confirmed PCR tests in all four nations of the UK, plus most positive lateral flow tests reported in England and all lateral flow tests reported in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
A further 164 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, compared with 205 in the previous 24-hour period.
These figures now include deaths in England following possible reinfections of Covid.
It comes as the latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows infection levels have fallen in England but increased in Scotland, while the trend in Wales and Northern Ireland is “uncertain”.
In England around one in 25 people in private households are estimated to have had the virus in the week to February 19, or 2.1 million people – down from one in 20, or 2.4 million people in the week to February 12.
Scotland saw an increase week-on-week, up from one in 25, or 219,300 people, to one in 20, or 240,700.
In Wales the estimate is down from one in 25, or 112,600 people, to one in 30, or 98,200, although the ONS described the trend in the most recent week as “uncertain”.
For Northern Ireland the trend is also uncertain, with the proportion of people with Covid-19 broadly unchanged (one in 14, down from one in 13) and the total down from 146,600 to 132,700.
TfL said it had “considered a variety of factors including the shift in the Government’s approach towards living with the virus and decreasing infection rates in London”.
All domestic legal restrictions in England will end on Thursday, in line with the Prime Minister’s ‘Living with Covid’ plan.
