UK: 7 in 10 report taking extra measures to protect against COVID-19

The FINANCIAL — Of people in England who had previously been required to isolate because of coronavirus (COVID-19), 70% reported taking extra measures to keep themselves safe when asked between 25 April and 10 May 2022. The most common measure adopted was wearing a face covering, which 47% of respondents reported doing.

It is important to note this survey has a relatively small number of respondents (815), and responses are self-reported.

Since 1 April 2022, self-isolation following a COVID-19 infection or contact with an infected person has no longer been required by law in England, although people are still asked to exercise personal responsibility. Of respondents who were fully aware of the latest government advice, 41% said it was sufficient to keep the public safe from coronavirus.

Nearly 3 in 10 (28%) respondents said they had missed out on work, and 2% said they had lost their job as a result of isolating. Of these, a fifth (20%) said they had been unable to recover financially.

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Almost 1 in 20 older pupils have had long COVID

Among secondary school pupils, almost 1 in 20 (4.8%) have experienced long COVID following their latest infection.

This falls to 1 in 50 (1.8%) among primary school pupils.

Secondary school pupils with long COVID were also more likely to have a probable mental disorder, or report behaviours linked to eating disorders.

These findings do not indicate causality, because the analysis does not account for mental health status before having long COVID.

Pupils in school Years 7 to 13 with long COVID were significantly more likely to have at least one probable mental disorder (28.1%) than those without long COVID (12.3%).

Secondary school pupils with long COVID were significantly more likely to have at least one probable mental disorder

More than a third (36.1%) of those with long COVID had worries about eating that interfere with their lives, compared with a quarter (23.0%) among those who had not.

Almost 1 in 5 (19.2%) of those who experienced long COVID had ever deliberately made themselves vomit, compared with 6.2% of those who had not.

Overseas residents made 44% fewer trips to the UK in 2021 than the previous year, because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Of those people who did visit the UK, they spent 7% less than in 2020; from £6.2 billion to £5.8 billion.

The restrictions of the pandemic also had an effect on the volume of visitors from the UK to visit overseas, 20% fewer than the previous year and equating to 19.1 million visits.

Those UK residents who did go abroad, spent £15.5 billion in 2021; this was an 12% increase on 2020. UK residents spent £15.5 billion on visits abroad in 2021, an increase of 12% compared with modelled data for 2020. The average spend per visit was £809 in 2021. Values for 2020 are not known, but this was an increase from £670 in 2019.

Some of this increase is because of the longer time spent abroad, likely to be because of the restrictions on travel during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

For example, overseas residents stayed an increased number of nights compared with an average of 18 days in previous years. The average spend per day fell from £69 in 2019 to £46 in 2021 as more visits were to visit friends and family rather than the usual holidays.

The data also showed that visitors to the UK in 2021 were predominantly there to visit friends or family, with 3.3 million visits. It was the first time this type of visit outnumbered holidays to the UK.

Estimates for the period April to December 2020 in this release are based on administrative sources and modelling. The methods used are described in our Data sources and quality.

Deaths involving COVID-19 fall in England and Wales

There were 211 deaths registered in the UK involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in the week ending 3 June 2022. This was 258 fewer than the previous week, accounting for around 1 in every 37 deaths (2.7%). However, registrations in this week were impacted by the bank holidays on 2 and 3 June.

There were 7,881 total deaths registered in the UK in the latest week, which is 16% below the five-year average, but this has been impacted by the June bank holidays.

Of the 186 deaths involving COVID-19 in England and Wales in the week to 3 June 2022, 58.1% had the disease recorded as the underlying cause of death, compared with 64.9% in the previous week.

Early signs of possible rising infections in parts of the UK

There have been early signs of possible rising coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in England and Northern Ireland in the week to 2 June 2022.

This is because of rises in infections compatible with some Omicron variants.

Trends in the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 were uncertain in Wales and Scotland in the latest week.

Early signs of a possible increase in the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in England and Northern Ireland

Estimated percentage of the population testing positive for COVID-19 on nose and throat swabs, 6 June 2021 to 2 June 2022

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The estimated percentage of the community population (those not in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings) that had COVID-19 in the latest week was: