Wales is the only nation in the UK recording a fall in its Covid-19 infection rate, it has been revealed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey, which is based on a random sample, has revealed that the estimated number of people testing positive for the virus for the week ending October 17 was 86,100, which equates to 2.83% of the population or around one in 35 people.
That's down on the previous week where 117,600 (3.87%), or around one in 35 of Wales' population, was thought to have Covid. Meanwhile the ONS said the latest rise in infections in England appears to be levelling off, but virus numbers are continuing to increase in Scotland and Northern Ireland
The total number of people in private households in the UK testing positive for coronavirus stood at 2.05 million in the week to October 17, broadly unchanged on 2.01 million in the previous week. This is some way below the peak of nearly four million reached in early July, during the wave caused by the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants of the virus.
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Kara Steel, ONS senior statistician for the Covid-19 infection survey, said the new figures show a "mixed picture" across the UK. "Though infections appear to have slowed in England and are now declining in Wales, they are increasing in both Northern Ireland and Scotland," she said.
"Infections are highest in those aged 50 and over in England, though there has been an increase in secondary school aged children. It remains too early to say from the data whether we are seeing a turning point in the level of infections - which remain high across the countries."
In England, the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the week to October 17 was 1.75 million, or around one in 30 people, compared with 1.71 million the previous week, which was also one in 30. The ONS described the trend in England as "uncertain".
Scotland has seen levels rise, with 159,200 people likely to have Covid-19, the equivalent of one in 35, up from 144,400, which is again one in 35. Northern Ireland has seen an increase, where the latest estimate for infections is 53,700, or one in 35 people, up from 44,200, or one in 40.WELSH G
Meanwhile, according to Welsh Government statistics, on October 25 the number of Covid-positive patients in Welsh hospitals was 444, which has fallen from a high of 533 on October 13. Just 21 (5%) of people were being actively treated for the virus on October 25. And of the 12 Covid patients in intensive care beds, nine of them were being actively treated for the virus.
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