UK daily Covid cases fall as scientist says we are ‘over the worst’ of pandemic

UK daily Covid cases have almost halved compared to a fortnight ago, according to the latest data, with a further 74,799 cases reported Sunday.

The figures show that a further 75 Brits have died within 28 days of having a positive test, down from a fortnight ago when 97 deaths were recorded.

The figure for new cases is almost half that of a fortnight ago, when 141,472 cases were recorded. Sunday’s infection figure was also lower than the previous day’s tally of 76,807.

According to the data, the number of people testing positive in the last seven days decreased by more than 15 per cent on the previous week’s total, to 641,687.

The data also shows that a total of 52,223,105 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK by January 22. This is a rise of 19,430 on the previous day.

A combined total of 36,890,079 booster and third doses have also been given, a day-on-day rise of 68,795.

The latest stats come as a senior government scientist whose modelling helped shape early lockdown rules said that the UK is past the worst of the Covid pandemic.

Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, told the Guardian newspaper that the “bulk” of the pandemic was over, but that we should still be prepared for possible setbacks.

He said: “The very high level of immunity in the UK population – acquired via both vaccination and infection – means that the risk of a new variant causing unmanageable levels of healthcare demand is much reduced,” he said.

“An additional positive is that if any new variant arises from Omicron – not a certainty – there is a fair chance it will retain the reduced severity of that strain.”

Ministers will drop ‘Plan B’ measures in England on Thursday, after Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he believed the country was over the peak of Omicron.

The changes mean face masks will no longer be mandated and that vaccine passports will be dropped. The government has already removed its work from home guidance in England.