Wales has recorded another huge fall in the number of people catching Covid, latest data has revealed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey for the week ending August 23 shows that the estimated number of people testing positive for Covid was 47,300, equating to 1.56% of the population or around one in 65 people.
That is a fall on the 65,500 (2.39%), or around one in 45 people, recorded in Wales for the week ending August 16. On September 1 a new booster jab started being offered to everyone in Wales aged 50 and over, as well as those with underlying health conditions, to increase protection ahead of future waves of the virus.
Across most of the UK Covid infections continue to drop but the picture was described as "uncertain" in Northern Ireland. The ONS said a total of 1.1m people in private households in the UK were estimated to have had coronavirus in the week to August 23. This is a drop of 25% from 1.4m in the previous week and is the lowest total since the week to June 2.
Read more: Mum told 'go to A&E in England' due to three-year wait for surgery in Wales
In England around 893,300 people were testing positive, equating to 1.64% of the population or around one in 60 people in the latest reporting week. In Scotland it was was 96,000 (1.82%) or around one in 55 people. However Northern Ireland saw an increase with 35,800 (1.95%) or around one in 50 people having the virus whereas last week it was one in 70.
The current wave has been driven by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the virus and saw weekly infections climb as high as 3.8m in early July. Kara Steel, senior statistician for the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Infection Survey, said: "Today’s data shows infection levels continue to decrease across most of the UK with the number of people with Covid-19 in England now estimated to be under one million for the first time since early June. Though there is an uncertain trend in Northern Ireland it is too early to say if this marks the end of the recent decrease. We will monitor the data closely to understand the impact of schools returning across the UK.”
The ONS Covid-19 infection survey was launched in April 2020 to provide timely estimates on how many people were infected with the virus. Survey workers have visited people at their homes monthly to collect nose and throat swabs and, for some participants, blood samples and have asked survey respondents a series of questions. Participants have always taken their own samples and survey workers have stayed at least two metres away.
At its largest the survey collected samples and information from around 400,000 people across the UK every month. However this has now changed. All of this information is now being collected online or by telephone and participants can post their swab and blood samples or get them collected by a courier.
Meanwhile the number of people in hospital with Covid is also decreasing in Wales. On August 30, of the 203 in acute hospitals with Covid, just 21 (10%) were people being activity treated for for the virus. Eight coronavirus patients in Wales were in invasive ventilated beds in intensive care on August 30 – four of whom were in Cardiff and Vale UHB while two in Hywel Dda UH with one in Betsi Cadwaladr UHB and one in Swansea Bay.
Eligible adults in Wales are being invited for an autumn Covid booster vaccine. The rollout began at the start of September to improve the immunity of those at higher risk from the virus. A single dose of the vaccine is being offered to:
- Residents in care homes for older adults
- Staff in care homes for older adults
- Frontline health and social care workers
- All adults aged 50 years and over
- People aged five to 49 years in a clinical risk group
- People aged five to 49 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression
- People aged 16-49 who are carers.
In line with advice from the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation eligible adults aged 18 and above will initially be offered the Moderna vaccine which protects from both the original Covid virus and the Omicron variant. Those eligible aged under 18 will be offered the Pfizer vaccine. Both vaccines will be offered at least three months after a previous dose. Adults will mostly be invited via letter to attend a vaccination centre, GP, or pharmacy for their jab.
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