Daily Covid infections fell by 29% last week to 20,360, symptom tracker app finds

The number of people with symptomatic coronavirus across the UK has fallen by more than a quarter in a week, according to a majority study, in another sign the winter wave is firmly in retreat.

King’s College London’s Covid Symptom Study estimates there were 20,360 Brits falling unwell with the disease every day last week, down 29 per cent on the 28,645 the seven days prior.

Daily infections have plummeted 70 per cent since the peak on New Year’s Day, when the researchers believe there were 69,000 new cases each day. 

Just one in 170 people in the UK currently have symptomatic Covid, according to the study, although this does not take into account the large proportion of infected people who do not get sick. 

Broken down, there are thought to be almost 17,000 new symptomatic cases in England every day, 1,827 in Scotland, 1,594 in Wales and 182 in Northern Ireland.

Within England, London is still seeing the highest volume of infections, with 3,609 new daily cases, followed by the South East at 2,601. Both regions were first to be hit with outbreaks of the highly-infectious Kent variant.

It comes on the back of a wealth of official statistics which suggest the second wave is starting to pass — figures yesterday showed ICU and hospital pressure was easing and deaths are down by a quarter in a week.

Despite all figures trending in the right direction, there is now a row over when lockdown should start to be significantly eased, with some ministers and SAGE scientists calling for case numbers to be squashed further before curbs can go.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has urged Number 10 not to ease restrictions before getting infections to 1,000 a day — which would be a significant shift away from the Government’s ‘protect the NHS, save lives’ mantra.