England’s Covid outbreak plunges to lowest level in a YEAR as winter booster jab roll-out expands

Covid infections have plummeted to their lowest level in nearly a year, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 770,800 people in England were carrying the virus on any given day in the week to August 28 — equivalent to one in 70 people.

The figure, which marks a 14 per cent downturn on the previous week, is the lowest logged since mid-September 2021, when infections fell to 660,000 ahead of an autumn wave.

Cases also trended downward in Wales (31,500), while rates appeared to be on the rise in Scotland (104,000) and Northern Ireland (38,000), although the statisticians said the pattern was uncertain.

While cases have been plunging nation-wide since mid-July, health chiefs are expecting a surge in the autumn and winter months, as people spend more time mixing in doors — which is known to fuel the virus’s spread.

To protect against the expected spike, the autumn booster campaign, targeting 26million people across England, today expanded to the over-65s, carers and pregnant women.

NHS bosses renewed calls for those eligible to come forward, warning there is ‘no room for complacency’ in keeping the virus at bay.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 770,800 people in England were carrying the virus on any given day in the week to August 28 — equivalent to one in 70 people. The figure, which marks a 14 per cent downturn on the previous week, is the lowest logged since mid-September 2021, when infections fell to 660,000 ahead of an autumn wave

The ONS figures, based on swabs of thousands of people, suggest that cases fell by a third in Wales, where one in 95 were thought to be infected.

Meanwhile, cases ticked upwards by 8.8 per cent in Scotland (one in 50) and 6.1 per cent in Northern Ireland (one in 50), its figures suggest.