UK Covid cases drop by 41% with 2,379 daily infections and 20 deaths after PM confirms April 12 phase will go ahead
UK Covid cases have fallen by 41% in a week with 2,379 new infections in the past 24 hours.
A further 20 deaths were recorded in the last day, bringing the total to 126,882.
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Today’s infection figure is down significantly from this time last week, when 4,040 positive cases were recorded.
And it is the lowest it has been in the UK since September 2 last year.
The death rate has dropped by 64% compared to the 56 fatalities reported on March 30.
Infections and deaths are also lower than yesterday when 2,762 new people tested positive for Covid, while 26 lost their lives to the virus.
NHS England data shows 37,119,083 doses of the Covid vaccine have now been administered in the UK.
That includes 105,334 in the latest 24-hour period.
A total of 31,622,367 people have received their first dose, with 5,496,716 of those having been given a second jab meaning they are fully vaccinated.
The UK’s vaccination campaign will hopefully be the key to bringing the country out of lockdown completely by June 21.
In Wales, 126 new cases and two new deaths were reported in the last two days, bringing the total for the country 209,942 and 5,521 respectively.
Scotland recorded 259 new infections, giving an all-time total of 220,493. No new deaths were reported meaning the death toll remains at 7,614.
There were 1,937 new cases reported in England, bringing the total to 3,816,361, while the number of Covid deaths rose by 15 to 111,626.
And 57 people tested positive for the virus in Northern Ireland in the last 24 hours, giving a total of 117,733, while three deaths were reported making the total 2,121.
The falling numbers come after Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night confirmed during a Downing Street press conference that step two of the roadmap out of lockdown would go ahead as planned.
This means that on April 12 gyms will reopen, as well as outdoors hospitality and non-essential shops.
It comes as…
- Brits will STILL face restrictions after lockdown lifts on June 21 from Covid passports to twice-weekly testing
- Twice-weekly Covid tests slammed as ‘beyond reckless’ by scientists amid fears false negatives will spark spread
- Pubs WITHOUT a beer garden can still reopen on April 12 in lockdown loophole
- Graph predicts when third Covid wave will strike as deaths set to stay below 100
- UK is already repeating fatal mistakes of last summer as Covid lockdown eases, scientist warns
- Boris Johnson hails free twice-weekly Covid tests for ALL Brits as ‘very, very valuable’ in getting back to the pub
It is the next step to “normal” life resuming by July – but one expert this morning warned that future lockdowns could be on the cards if we ease out of restrictions too soon.
Professor Devi Shridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University, today said: “I’m afraid it we accelerate too quickly then there could potentially be another lockdown, and no one wants another lockdown, we can’t do this again.”
However, another expert has said the lockdown roadmap “could be sped up” if deaths and cases continue to fall at the current rate.
Dr Mike Tildesley, from the Spi-M government advisory group and a professor of infectious disease modelling at the University of Warwick, said: “There could be some arguments for lifting restrictions in the road map sooner.”
He told LBC today: “I was really pleasantly surprised that when schools open we have managed to keep things in check.
“So I think if these numbers keep going down over the next few weeks there certainly is an argument to say ‘well actually we’re doing really well with the roadmap, it could be sped up’.”
It adds to further good news that the Moderna coronavirus vaccine will be rolled out in weeks, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi revealed.
It will be administered to Brits alongside the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab and the Pfizer/BioNTech offering.
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Speaking on BBC Breakfast he said the jab will be in deployment “around the third week of April”.
He added that he was “confident” that the UK will meet its target of offering all over-50s the vaccine by mid-April and all adults by the end of July.
It will run alongside a free mass testing drive, which the PM said will be “very valuable” in getting the country back to normality.
From Friday, all Brits will have access to two lateral flow Covid tests through the NHS.