The latest report from the largest home COVID-19 testing study has shown that infections are continuing to rise in England as 1 in 170 test positive.
An analysis of swab tests taken by 175,000 people between 18th September and 5th October found that the virus is infecting around 45,000 people each day.
The research, led by Imperial College London, reports that 0.60% of the population, or 60 per 10,000, had the SARS-CoV-2 virus, compared to 0.13% in the previous round of testing.
While infections are rising nation-wide, substantial differences were found at the regional level and the study identified a number of virus hotspots, with the highest levels of prevalence identified in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East.
Young people aged 18-24 were most likely to test positive for the virus, with 1 in 80 estimated to be infected. Rates were also found to be rising fastest in people aged 65 and above, which saw 8 times as many infections compared to the previous report.
These results follow an interim report released last week, which included data from the first 80,000 swabbed for the study period.
Professor Paul Elliott, Director of the REACT programme at Imperial, from the School of Public Health, said: “Our robust findings paint a concerning picture of the growing epidemic across England. While certain areas are worse affected, if left unabated then infection trends will follow nation-wide and could lead to high levels of unnecessary death and illness from the disease
Meanwhile The UK’s reproduction “R” number of COVID-19 has edged down to 1.2-1.5 from 1.3-1.6, government scientists said on Friday, adding there was still widespread growth of the epidemic across the country.
An R number between 1.2 and 1.5 means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 15 other people. The daily infection growth rate was between +4% to +9%, compared to +5% to +9% a week ago.
“There is still widespread growth of the epidemic across the country,” the Government Office for Science said.
