According to ONS, the number of Covid cases in England almost doubled within a week. World news

Coronavirus cases in England almost doubled in a week, and the infection spread to all age groups, leading an expert to say that a second wave had begun.

According to an ONS survey of randomly selected people in the community, it is estimated that nearly 60,000 people will be infected with the virus from September 4-10, 2020 (1 in 900). ..

It is estimated that about 1 in 1,400 people are infected with the virus last week, and 3,200 new infections per day. “Estimates show that the incidence in the United Kingdom has increased in recent weeks,” the ONS team wrote.

There was evidence of higher infection rates in northwestern England and London. The R number (the average number of people infected by one infected person) was also 1.2-1.4 in the UK and 1.1-1.4 in the UK as a whole, up from 1.0-1.2 last week.

Tim Specter, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, is leading a symptom study of Covid, and the data suggest that the second wave of Covid has begun. “The data in this app is drawing a worrying picture in the case of growing across the UK. The only exception to that rule is the southwest, where you can see that the numbers remain low.” He said.

Professor Stevery Lee of Imperial College London said the ONS findings are consistent with data from a recently published React-1 study, showing cases of the virus in England. Double every 7-8 days.. “This is additional evidence in support of the need to reduce social contact to avoid future increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths,” he said.

ONS figures also confirm that cases appear to increase most in elementary school-aged children and adults under the age of 35 during the week of school return to the United Kingdom.

However, experts show that the data show some increase even in the elderly, with the average percentage of individuals testing positive for Covid-19 between the ages of 50-69 between August 19 and September 10. Increased from 0.04% to 0.12%-ONS Please note that there is uncertainty in the actual size of this increase.

The numbers come on the same day when Yvonne Doyle, director of medicine in public health England, emphasized that the virus is not limited to young people. “There are now clear signs that the virus is spreading to all age groups, and we are particularly worried about increased hospitalization rates and intensive care for the elderly.”

The government has applied stricter restrictions To almost 2 million people living in northeast England, 10 pm curfew for venues such as bars and restaurants, and prohibition of socializing with people from other households. Similar restrictions Plans to expand to northwest, Midland and West Yorkshire From Tuesday.

ONS also reported on the situation in Wales, where it is estimated that approximately 1 in 2,000 people were infected with the virus during the week from September 4 to 10, 2020, and 1 in 2,600 in the previous week. Is increasing.

However, the ONS team found very few positive tests and the results show no clear signs of an increase. “Our modeling suggests that the number of Covid-19 cases in Wales is currently relatively stable,” they write.

Increasing cases have also been reported by researchers behind the Covid Symptom Research App, revealing the highest cases in northern England and Midland.

While the ONS study captures symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, Professor Specter’s study of Covid symptoms focuses on people with symptoms, but covers the entire UK.

Results based on the 8,124 swab test suggest that there were an average of 7,536 new symptomatological cases of Covid daily for the two weeks leading up to September 13. The team says the data show that nearly 70,000 people in the UK now have symptomatological Covids – almost twice the figure of 35,248 from the previous week.

In response to the ONS figures, Dr. Kit Yates, a senior lecturer in mathematical biology at the University of Bath, said the situation was a concern. “The time between reporting the latest ONS figures was 5 days instead of the usual 7 days. These changes occurred in 5 days, so you might expect the doubling time to be faster than a week. Hmm.”

According to the latest R data, only the southwest has an R number less than 1. The values ​​for Midland and Northwest are the highest, and both R numbers are considered to be between 1.2 and 1.5.