Britain announces preliminary Covid-19 death toll of 213 as antibody data suggests fewer than 7% of Brits have had the infection and mass-swab scheme reveals outbreak is still ‘relatively stable’ and infecting 54,000 people each week
- Regular swab testing has found that 79 per cent of positive results have come from people with no symptoms
- Statisticians say around 133,000 people are thought to have the virus currently, with 54,000 new per week
- They describe the outbreak as ‘relatively stable’ and its size has decreased on that measure since last week
- NHS England said another 185 people had died of Covid-19 in its hospitals between April 10 and May 27
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
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Another 213 people have died of the coronavirus in hospitals in Britain, officials announced today, pushing the total number of fatalities to 37,673 as a blood-testing survey suggests seven per cent of people have had the virus.
NHS England said another 185 people had died in its hospitals between April 10 and May 27, while a further 14 people died in Wales, 12 in Scotland and two in Northern Ireland. Care home deaths will be announced later.
Separate data, released today for the first time, shows that one in every 14 people in the UK – around 4.5million people – have already had coronavirus, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The government body today released the first results of its blood testing scheme, which found 60 people out of 885 (6.78 per cent) tested positive for Covid-19-specific antibodies in their immune systems.
It suggests that 4.5million people across the UK have been exposed to the virus – a similar estimate to the 15 per cent of Londoners and five per cent elsewhere announced last week by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Ongoing swab testing shows that 0.24 per cent of the population is currently infected with the disease. This a drop of 0.01 per cent from last week’s update and suggests about 133,000 people are carrying the virus.
ONS officials said it was possible this number was as low as 62,000 or as high as 250,000 – the tests are based on small samples of the population so have to account for a margin of error.
They described the outbreak as ‘relatively stable’ – the same description as last week – and added that about 54,000 people are becoming newly infected each week, down from 61,000 last week.
More worryingly, the ONS revealed that of the people testing positive for Covid-19 in its nationwide scheme, only 21 per cent actually had symptoms at the time their positive sample was taken. This proves the virus is still spreading silently through the population and potentially tens of thousands of people have no idea they’ve got it.
In other developments to Britain’s coronavirus crisis today:
- A Durham Police investigation found Dominic Cummings did not break lockdown rules with his 260-mile trip to find childcare – but he might have breached guidance when he travelled 60 miles to Barnard Castle;
- The government’s contact tracing site crashed on launch this morning amid complaints it has been a ‘complete shambles’, with workers paid £10 an hour to sit at home and do nothing on its first day;
- Nicola Sturgeon declared that lockdown is easing in Scotland – groups of up to eight people allowed to mix in parks and gardens. Boris Johnson is due to make tweaks to the draconian coronavirus curbs this afternoon;
- Matt Hancock performed a U-turn on the prospect of Britons being able to take summer holidays abroad this year as he suggested they may now be possible – despite saying they were ‘unlikely’ earlier this month;
- The RNLI came under fire following the deaths of three people at Britain’s beaches over the Bank Holiday weekend after it suspended coastal patrols because of the coronavirus crisis;
- April was the deadliest month on record in England and Wales, according to shocking official figures that showed 88,000 people died across the two countries – double the 44,000 recorded last April;
- Sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger will reopen more than 200 sites for takeaway and delivery from next Monday, with new social distancing measures in place.
The ONS has based this week’s statistics on swab tests carried out on 18,913 people across 8,799 households in England and Wales. It found that 36 people tested positive for the virus from 27 separate households.
A separate set of data, not published before, was based on 885 blood tests to look for signs of coronavirus-specific antibodies in members of the public.
Antibodies are substances produced by the immune system when it fights off a certain infection; they are only present in people who have had a disease or the vaccine for it, and can be used to see who has had the illness in the past.
Its finding that 6.78 per cent of the sample had the antibodies suggest the same rate of infection has been experienced across England and Wales, at least. It is reasonable to scale that to the entire of the UK, suggesting around 4.5million people have been infected.
Last week, Matt Hancock announced that similar testing by Public Health England had suggested 17 per cent of people in London had been infected, along with five per cent of the rest of the country.
Last week, Matt Hancock announced that testing by Public Health England had suggested 17 per cent of people in London had been infected, along with five per cent of the rest of the country. This put the death rates, at the time, at about 1.39 per cent outside of London and 1.12 per cent within the city