‘Early signs’ of potential rise in people testing positive for Covid in England
There are “early signs” of a potential rise in the proportion of people testing positive for coronavirus in England, new figures show.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, published on Friday, show that around one in 1,110 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to May 15 – up from one in 1,340 the previous week.
But while the ONS said that there were “early signs of a potential increase”, it stressed that rates were low and it was too soon to say if the rise was the start of a trend.
Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, added: “This week there is a mixed picture of infection levels across the UK.
The ONS also said that there were signs of an increase in the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South East.
Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to May 15: around one in 520.
In the North East, it was one in 840, and in the South East, it was one in 1,210.
The South West had the lowest estimate at around one in 2,730.
The trend was uncertain for all other regions in the same week, the ONS said.
But the ONS said that rates were low in all regions and credible intervals were wide.
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