As we know, the fall in cases has plateaued and may now be rising.
Lockdown only ended on 2nd December. This is really concerning.
The plateauing is in all ages (although perhaps worth keeping an eye on 5-9y/o)
But not all regions.
NW, Yorkshire and Humber, West Mids, and SW continue to fall, but significant rises in London and EoE, back to near peak rates in early lockdown
Also not in all regions or deprivation groups. Interestingly, the current plateau/uptick looks to be more of a leveller for different deprivation groups among <40y/os
And here's a couple of v useful new graphs from PHE.
If you have symptoms, get a test. But the asymptomatic testing may well have a role in case finding, esp in specific settings/contexts (i.e. outbreaks)
Great to see a fall in outbreaks in care homes (although I'm nervous this won't last). And also no big change in schools.
But the big jump in hospital outbreaks is worrying.
And whilst this week's surveillance report shows hospital admission rates still falling, the daily gov.uk data shows that it's beginning to tick up again. Already.
And as with cases, the hospital admissions varies by region, with rising admissions in East Mids, EoE, and SE.
ICU admissions also still falling (except note EoE)
As are deaths - although all cause deaths are still running higher than would be expected.
But sure as night follows day, increasing cases (esp in over 60y/o) will lead to more admissions to hospital, more to ICU, and more deaths.
It is really upsetting to see this happening so soon. The vaccine's so close. Please do take care this winter.
(thankfully, still barely any flu. And people are getting their flu vaccine like never before)
A 5% drop in the number of people getting tested this week (to 1.66m), but a 28% drop in cases.
Drawing conclusions about falling positivity rates over time is getting increasingly tricky as testing among asymptomatic people is rolled out. As have said previously, reporting symptomatic separately to asymptomatic would hugely help with understanding the data.
Interesting that number of individuals tested down by 1% this week (although that's still 1.74m people).
This includes the lateral flow devices being used in Liverpool and some other settings (reported in pillar 2).
Cases fell for the first time since mid-August. Down 9% to 152,660, and positivity also down. This is consistent with PHE data today, as well as ONS survey.