Drop in new COVID cases resumes

Written byZOE Editorial Staff

According to the ZOE COVID Symptom Study UK Infection Survey figures, there are currently 8,111 daily new symptomatic cases of COVID in the UK on average, based on swab tests data from up to five days ago [*]. This compares to 9,545 cases a week ago a decrease of 15% from last week. That’s down 88% from a peak of 69,000 at the beginning of the year. In terms of prevalence, on average 1 in 483 people in the UK currently have symptomatic COVID. (Full table of regional results below)

Other key findings from ZOE COVID Symptom Study UK Infection Survey this week:

The UK R value is close to 1.0
Regional R values are: England, 0.9, Wales, 0.9, Scotland, 1.0 (full table of R values below)
The average rate of prevalence for symptomatic disease across the UK is 1 in 483
Daily new cases are highest in the 20-40 year olds and lowest in the 0-19 and 60+ age groups (see graph below)

The ZOE COVID Symptom Study UK Infection Survey figures are based on around one million weekly reporters and the proportion of newly symptomatic users who have positive swab tests. The latest survey figures were based on data from 9,642 recent swab tests done between 14 February to 28 February 2021.

The app is delivered in collaboration with King’s Health Partners, an Academic Health Sciences Centre based in South East London.

Tim Spector OBE, lead scientist on the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, comments on the latest data:

“After reporting a flattening last week, possibly related to the cold snap, and with worries of new variants, we are pleased to see numbers falling again. It’s even more encouraging when we look at the bigger picture. Cases in hospital and deaths continue to fall, and vaccinations rise, putting us in a good position. However, we still need to keep numbers low and avoid further waves of infections. Our app shows people are still getting infected within two weeks after vaccination when they have zero protection. With schools opening, we still need to be sensible to keep the good news flowing as we slowly return to normal life and hopefully ease lockdown earlier.”

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Incidence / Daily new symptomatic cases regional breakdown [*]