Number of Covid infections falls by 8% in a week to 5,534 and death toll rises by 121 – down from 158 last Saturday – with 23.68million now receiving first dose of Covid jab
- England recorded 118, Scotland had eight, Wales recorded six, N. Ireland one
- Last Saturday 208 deaths were recorded, and on February 27, there were 293
- The figures bring preliminary death count to 125,476, though this will change
Britain reported 121 new COVID deaths on Saturday, taking the number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive test result to 125,464, daily government figures showed.
A further 5,534 people have tested positive for the disease, down from 6,040 last Saturday, while the number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose has risen to 23.684 million from 23.315 million the day before.
Last Saturday 158 deaths were recorded – a 45 per cent reduction on the 290 deaths recorded the weekend before that.
The latest figures from the Government act as further proof of Britain’s successful vaccine roll-out.
So far, more than 23.68million vaccine doses have been administered in the UK with 1.45million people fully vaccinated.
England recorded 118 new fatalities, Scotland had eight, Wales recorded six and Northern Ireland had one (pictured at the Royal London hospital last week)
Of the deaths in England, the NHS said patients were aged between 37 and 99 and all except eight, aged between 55 and 96, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between December 17 and March 12, with the majority being on or after March 6.
There were 35 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
The continued drop in deaths can be attributed to lockdown and the rapid vaccination rate.
No10’s scientific advisory panel SAGE estimates the reproduction rate — the average number of people infected by each person with coronavirus — is between 0.6 and 0.8 across the UK and England, meaning the outbreak is still shrinking.
This was also the level given for England, and the regions the East of England, London, Midlands, North West and South East.
It was slightly higher in the North East and Yorkshire, where it is likely between 0.7 and 0.9, and slightly lower in the South West where it was between 0.5 and 0.8.
The Office for National Statistics survey found that the total number of people infected with coronavirus fell again in the most recent week, to 200,600 – the lowest since the start of October
No regions had an R rate over 1, suggesting the second wave is still shrinking in all areas.
Office for National Statistics experts claimed yesterday that the total number of people infected with Covid in England fell by a fifth to just over 200,000 last week — the equivalent of one in 270 people.
And data from a major symptom-tracking app today claimed 4,200 people are becoming ill with the disease every day — down by a third in a week.
Professor Tim Spector, a King’s College London epidemiologist behind the study, said he believes the ‘darkest days are behind us.’