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The prevalence of the coronavirus in England has fallen again, to the lowest level since the end of September, according to the Office for National Statistics.
One in 270 people was infected with the coronavirus in the week ending March 6, new data from the ONS Infection Survey show, the equivalent of 200,600 people.
That number is less than one in 220, or 248,100 people, who are estimated to have had COVID-19 in the previous week.
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It’s also the lowest figure since the week through September 24, when the estimate stood at one in 470, or 116,600 people.
But the number of infected people in England is still high compared to last summer. In the week ending August 25, about one in 2,000 people had coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the UK R number it has fallen to between 0.6 and 0.8, official figures show.
A week ago, the R number, which represents the average number of people each person infects with COVID-positive, was between 0.7 and 0.9.
An R number between 0.6 and 0.8 means that, on average, every 10 infected people will infect between six and eight more people.
The latest growth rate is between minus 7% and minus 4%, which means that the number of new infections is reduced between 4% and 7% every day.
However, there are also early signs of a “possible increase” in the percentage of people testing positive for the virus in south-east and south-west England, the ONS said.
Rates are estimated to have declined in the North East, North West, East Midlands, East England and London, while the trend is uncertain in Yorkshire and the Humber and West Midlands, it added.
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The West Midlands had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to March 6 – around one in 190 people.
Yorkshire and Humber had the next highest level, around one in 230.
The other estimates are one in 305 for the East Midlands; one in 295 for North West England; one in 320 for London; one in 280 for the northeast of England; one in 315 for eastern England; one in 265 for the south-east of England; and one in 290 for south-west England.
In Wales, the prevalence of COVID has decreased. Around one in 365 people are estimated to have had the virus between February 28 and March 6, giving it the lowest level in the UK.
It’s down from one in 285 from the previous week, February 21-27.
Drakeford told a news conference in Cardiff that the test’s positivity rate was also “stable” at 4.3%.
“At the same time, the number of COVID-related patients in hospitals is declining faster now every week,” Drakeford said.
Drakeford said the figures “give us cause for optimism” but cautioned that Wales I would come out of the confinement with a more infectious form of the virus present throughout the country.
In other parts of the UK, the infection rate has started to stabilize.
In Northern Ireland, the ONS estimates that around one in 310 people had COVID in the week to March 6, compared to one in 325, and around one in 320 people in Scotland during the same period, compared one in 335.
The data, which does not cover nursing homes or hospitals, is based on smear tests of thousands of people, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.
Sarah Crofts, Senior Statistician for the COVID-19 Infection Survey, said: “We are seeing a mixed picture across the UK this week.
“Infection levels in England and Wales have continued to decline in the week ending March 6, but appear to be stabilizing in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
“It is reassuring to see that infection levels in most English regions also continue to decline, however it is important that we be cautious and closely monitor regions that do not show a clear decline.
“These are in the south of England, Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands.”
It comes after data on Thursday showed that more than 23 million people have received their first dose of a vaccine.
