- 6 April 2022
Today’s update is delayed. The current estimate for release is 5:30pm. Further updates will be provided here.
One story from the government, another from a council:
Cornwall’s coronavirus case rate is above the national average and public health bosses have urged people to “act responsibly”.
A spokesperson for public health warned “this is not just a mild cold”.
It comes as Covid-19 testing sites have closed and free testing ended as part of the government’s Living with Covid strategy.
Councillor Dr Andy Virr, portfolio holder for adults and public health, said: “I can’t stress enough just how rampant the virus is in Cornwall right now - it is everywhere. There is also a preconception that it is nothing to be feared or worried about, but I can assure people that the current variant is still making a lot of people very ill with the ongoing threat that future variants could be even more harmful.”
Dr Virr, who is also an emergency department consultant at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, added: “This is not just a mild cold for most people and we all need to take it very seriously indeed. So please get jabbed and take precautions to stop Covid spreading through our communities.”
Rachel Wigglesworth, director of public health for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “The Public Health team has been working hard throughout the pandemic to keep residents and visitors as safe as possible from Covid, and will continue to do so. But we can’t do this if people pretend the virus doesn’t exist and forget about all the ways we can effectively stop transmission. So please remember the basics - ‘hands, face and space’, keep a face covering with you, stay at home if you’re unwell, and get your vaccines. Only by acting responsibly can we hope to live safely with Covid.”
It ain’t over 'til it’s over … 
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The number of people infected with Covid in the UK is showing signs of plateauing, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests.
Nearly 4.9 million people would test positive, which is about 25,000 lower than last week’s record high.
Infections appear to be falling in Scotland, which has had some of the highest Covid rates in the UK.
A study published earlier this week also suggested cases may have peaked in children and young adults.
The ONS infection survey tests thousands of people, whether or not they have symptoms, so is not affected by the end of free testing in England. It is seen as the best measure of the spread of coronavirus in the UK.
So, I’m not reproducing the gov.data.uk figures for new cases for the time being.
In the week leading up to 2 April, the ONS estimates:
- One in 13 people in England had coronavirus, about 7.6% of the population - the same as last week
- One in 13 people in Wales had coronavirus, about 7.6% - up from 7% last week
- One in 16 people in Northern Ireland had coronavirus, about 6.2% - down from 6.7% last week
- One in 13 people in Scotland had coronavirus, about 7.5% - down from 8.6% last week
This wave of Omicron is far less deadly than those before mass vaccination, but the sheer number of people catching the virus is still contributing to pressure on the NHS.
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BJ said today that he wouldn’t rule out another lockdown if necessary. I wonder what he knows that we don’t?
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I’d guess that (even) BJ is alarmed that the COVID situation is, although no longer dire, is still desperate … 
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@Pixie Knuckles, Yep, what do you expect?
The more you test, the more infections there will be !!
Stop the tests, stop the virus !!
Hospital beds are empty !
Deaths are low!
All is well. !!
Should have done this long ago ?
Donkeyman! 
This wave of Omicron is far less deadly than those before mass vaccination, but the sheer number of people catching the virus is still contributing to pressure on the NHS.
The number of people in hospital with Covid also shows signs of levelling off after nearly doubling over the course of March. The number of hospital patients in the UK appears to have plateaued at about 20,000.
More than half of the patients in England have been admitted for other reasons, but are testing positive for Covid.
However, hospital bosses have warned the health service is under “enormous strain” with Covid, other conditions, difficulties discharging patients and “severe” shortages of staff leading to backlogs.
@Omah , Thanks for the link Omah, doesnt it say that over half the
patients currently in hospital for OTHER CAUSES test positive for covid !
So if they hadn’t been admitted for other causes they wouldn’t know they
had covid at all ??
The health system is under pressure due to poor administration and
nothing else !!
Donkeyman! 
Now that general testing has been (effectively) abandoned no-one knows who’s got COVID - only those who have to be tested and those who pay to be tested are counted. ONS estimates say that every thirteenth person is currently infected - the fact that so many are detected on admittance to hospital for something else should be cause for concern - they will, of course, have been, unknowingly, transmitting the virus. Meanwhile, those who are not hospitalised but infected, yet untested and unaware, will be passing on the infection, too.
@Omah , Yes, l understand all that Omah, but all that only applies
if the disease is deadly ?
Which it manifestly isn’t,unless you are allready dying of something else !!
Donkeyman!
Only the morbid concentrate on the deaths.
Over the past week, 20 NHS Accident and Emergency departments in England issued diverts, with patients taken elsewhere.
Those A&E departments still taking new patients have seen long delays, with more than 25% of ambulances waiting at least 30 minutes to handover patients.
Hospital bosses said they were “very concerned” about the situation.
All areas of the country are facing huge pressures, but NHS bosses in West Yorkshire and the south central area of England - covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire and Berkshire - have reported particularly severe strain.
The pressures are being partly caused by the high number of Covid patients currently in hospital. This week numbers across England have exceeded 16,000, rising to 20,000 once other nations in the UK are included.
To put the pressures in context: the current delays being seen at A&E departments are worse than those seen in the winter before the pandemic hit, which was considered the most challenging winter for many years.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said: “We’re very concerned about the real pressures across the whole health and care system. A very high number of hospital beds are occupied, and combined with staff absences and severe workforce shortages, this means that trusts can’t recover care backlogs as quickly as they want to.”
The NHS is, apparently, as severely effected by COVID as it ever was, which would seem to be at odds with the government’s falling infection figures.
About 4.4 million people had the virus in their body in the week up to 9 April, down from nearly 4.9 million the week before. That’s about one in 15 people testing positive for the virus. The number infected still remains very high, despite the 10% drop recorded by the ONS.
Sarah Crofts, from the ONS, said: “Across most parts of the UK, infections have thankfully begun to decrease. It is too early to say if we have passed the peak of infections, and infections overall remain high.”
In the week leading up to 9 April, the ONS estimates:
- One in 14 people in England had coronavirus, about 6.9% of the population - down from 7.6% last week
- One in 13 people in Wales had coronavirus, about 7.6% - the same as last week
- One in 19 people in Northern Ireland had coronavirus, about 5.2% - down from 6.2% last week
- One in 17 people in Scotland had coronavirus, about 6% - down from 7.5% last week
There’s still a long way to go before we get back to December 2021.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: 22 April 2022
1.Main points
- In England, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to decrease in the week ending 16 April 2022; we estimate that 3,218,700 people in England had COVID-19 (95% credible interval: 3,120,200 to 3,317,200), equating to 5.90% of the population or around 1 in 17 people.
- In Wales, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 decreased in the week ending 16 April 2022; we estimate that 198,400 people in Wales had COVID-19 (95% credible interval: 175,100 to 222,600), equating to 6.53% of the population or around 1 in 15 people.
- In Northern Ireland, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 continued to decrease in the week ending 16 April 2022; we estimate that 65,300 people in Northern Ireland had COVID-19 (95% credible interval: 52,300 to 79,800), equating to 3.56% of the population or around 1 in 30 people.
- In Scotland, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 continued to decrease in the week ending 16 April 2022; we estimate that 281,400 people in Scotland had COVID-19 (95% credible interval: 253,100 to 311,700), equating to 5.35% of the population or around 1 in 19 people.
7 in 10 people in England have had COVID-19
22 April 2022
- 70.7% of the population (38,000,000 million people) in England between 27 April 2020 and 11 February 2022.
- 56.0% of the population (1,700,000 million people) in Wales between 30 June 2020 and 11 February 2022.
- 72.2% of the population (1,300,000 million people) in Northern Ireland between 27 July 2020 and 11 February 2022.
- 51.5% of the population (2,700,00 million people) in Scotland between 22 September 2020 and 11 February 2022.
If my calculations are correct then 43,700,000 people in the UK have been infected by the COVID virus … AFAIK, I’m not one of them … 
COVID-19 deaths drop again in England
27 April 2022
In March 2022, deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) decreased significantly in England but remained similar in Wales.
In England, the age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) for deaths due to COVID-19 decreased from 55.3 to 40.7 deaths per 100,000 people between February 2022 and March 2022. In Wales, the figure went from 45.7 to 45.3 deaths per 100,000 people during the same period.
Yorkshire and The Humber had the highest ASMR for deaths due to COVID-19 of any English region with 45.1 deaths per 100,000 people.
Around 2.87 million people would have tested positive in the week to 23 April - 900,000 fewer than the week before.
Covid levels are declining in England, Scotland and Wales but are unchanged in Northern Ireland.
Despite the decreases in all age groups in most of the UK, the ONS said infections remained high.
“We are yet to see if this is part of a larger trend,” said Kara Steel, senior statistician for the Covid-19 Infection Survey.
One in 23 would test positive for the virus under the latest estimates, down from one in 17 the week before - a 24% decrease.
That equates to the largest week-on-week fall in total infections since the ONS started its survey in July 2020.
Good news … 
The truth is coming out