Covid cases fall for fourth day straight but expert warns of ‘false peaks’
The number of daily Covid infections has continued to fall, with 31,795 new cases recorded across the UK in the last 24 hours.
It is the fourth consecutive day they have dropped – but an expert has suggested data over the next week or two following ‘freedom day’ will be crucial in determining whether we are turning the tide on the virus.
Figures on the number of coronavirus deaths is not yet available as the Government dashboard is experiencing delays.
Professor Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist and mathematician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that while there are ‘early signs’ transmission rates appear to be falling, we have yet to see the impact of last Monday’s ‘big reopening’, adding: ‘We’ve seen false peaks before.’
He told BBC Radio 4: ‘Of course that change on Monday, that big reopening, has not yet shown up in the data.
‘So I think the next week or two is going to be crucial to know if this is genuinely a slowdown of a potential peak, or if we’ve got more transmission to come.’
Prof Kucharski added that the so-called ‘pingdemic’ – people being alerted to self-isolate by the NHS test and trace app – is showing an increase in social contact.
He said: ‘Vaccines are enabling more interactions to happen, but there’s an awful lot of Covid out there.
‘If you go out and have contacts, it’s very likely you’ll be near someone who has the virus.’
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has again urged people to get their jabs after revealing he has made a ‘full recovery’ a week after testing positive for the virus.
Mr Javid, who replaced scandal-hit Matt Hancock in the Cabinet, tweeted: ‘Full recovery from Covid a week after testing positive. Symptoms were very mild, thanks to amazing vaccines.
‘Please – if you haven’t yet – get your jab, as we learn to live with, rather than cower from, this virus.’
His infection sent Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak into self-isolation, with the prime minister’s quarantine in his Chequers country residence is expected to end late on Monday.
There have been a total of 46,519,998 first doses of a vaccine administered and 36,953,691 second doses.
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