Covid infections are rising across the South and East of England, but falling in the North, new figures show.
Around one in 19 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to 5 February, or 2.8 million people – up from one in 20 during the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said.
Its latest Covid survey shows there is still a high prevalence of the virus across the country, with infections remaining well above pre-Christmas levels – though the picture is mixed at a regional level.
Infections were rising in the South East, South West and East of England up to 5 February, but continuing to drop in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber.
Prevalence was highest in the South East, where 5.8 per cent of the regional population had Covid last week, according to the ONS. The lowest rate is in the North West, at 4.6 per cent of the population.
In Scotland, around one in 25 were likely to have Covid-19 last week, or 211,300 people, up week-on-week from one in 30, or 185,100.
Northern Ireland also saw an increase, up from one in 15 people (or 136,300) to one in 13 (145,600) – the highest level since the ONS began estimating infections for this part of the UK in autumn 2020.
But infections have fallen in Wales, down from an estimated one in 20 people (or 139,000) to one in 25 (121,200).
Across the UK as a whole, 3.3 million people were likely to have had Covid-19 last week, up from 3.1 million the previous week.
Infections remain highest among primary school children (Year 6 and below), 11.5 per cent of whom had Covid last week. Prevalence is lowest in the over-70s, at 2.5 per cent.
The Omicron variant is currently the dominant variant across the UK, the ONS said. The Omicron spin-off, BA.2, has increased substantially in Northern Ireland and has also increased in some regions within England, it added.
The ONS infection survey is the most reliable snapshot of the prevalence of coronavirus in the UK.
It is based on a representative sample of swab tests collected from tens of thousands of households, and is therefore able to estimate the percentage of people likely to test positive for Covid-19 at any one point in time – regardless of when they caught the virus, how many times they have had it and whether they have symptoms.
By contrast, the number of cases of Covid-19 announced each day by the government is limited only to those people who have reported themselves as testing positive for the virus, and is affected by how many people are coming forward for tests or who are taking a test because they know they have coronavirus symptoms.
