The FINANCIAL — Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases decreased in England, Wales and Scotland but continued to increase in Northern Ireland in the week ending 31 July 2021.
The estimated percentage of the community population (those not in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings) that had COVID-19 was:
1.32% (1 in 75 people) in England, down from 1.57% (1 in 65 people) last week
0.43% (1 in 230 people) in Wales, down from 0.62% (1 in 160 people) last week
1.87% (1 in 55 people) in Northern Ireland, up from 1.48% (1 in 65 people) last week
0.82% (1 in 120 people) in Scotland, down from 0.94% (1 in 110 people) last week
Across England, infections decreased for those between School Year 12 and those aged 49 years and those aged 70 years and over, while the trend is uncertain for all other age groups.
Infections have also decreased in the North West, East Midlands, West Midlands, London and the South East, while the trend is uncertain for all other regions.In the last seven days, 1 in 25 adults (4%) in Great Britain had self-isolated at some point, down from 1 in 17 (6%) last week.
Of those, a little over a quarter (26%) had been notified by the NHS Test and Trace app, according to Opinions and Lifestyle survey responses collected between 28 July and 1 August 2021.
The fall in numbers self-isolating could be the result of a decrease in infection rates in England, as shown in the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey.
The main reason adults self-isolated in the last seven days was because they had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19 (53% compared with 42% last week).
In the first full week since England lifted all coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, compliance with measures to slow the spread of the virus remained strong.
More than 9 in 10 adults reported wearing face coverings when outside their home (92%), down compared with last week (95%).
The percentage of adults who always or often maintain social distancing was down to 53% when compared with last week 61%.
An estimated 945,000 people living in private UK households (1.46% of the population) were experiencing self-reported “long COVID” symptoms as of 4 July 2021.
The number of people with symptoms persisting more than four weeks after their first suspected COVID-19 infection (if not explained by something else) was down slightly from 962,000 (1.49%) at 6 June 2021.
Of those experiencing self-reported “long COVID”, 380,000 (40.2%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least a year previously.
As a proportion of the UK population, prevalence of self-reported long COVID was greatest in people aged 35 to 69 years, females, people living in the most deprived areas, those working in health or social care, and those with another activity-limiting health condition or disability.
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