Cases drop across 90% of country as lockdown pays off

COVID cases have fallen by a fifth in the past week as lockdown measures begin to take effect.

The seven-day average is 44,997 – 22 per cent down on last week’s 57,851.

Yesterday’s daily figure of 37,535 suggests the downward trajectory is continuing – raising hopes that the UK has passed the peak of the third wave of the pandemic.

However, a total of 599 coronavirus-linked deaths were reported yesterday – up by 70 on a week earlier. Nine in ten local authorities in England – including every borough in London – has seen Covid rates fall over the past week. Experts believe the dip represents the impact of lockdown restrictions – with the effect of the vaccination programme unlikely to be seen until February.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said more than four million jabs had been administered but warned: ‘Don’t blow it now. We are on the route out. We are protecting the most vulnerable. We are getting the virus under control. Together, I know that we can do it and we have got to stick at it.’

He also stressed the NHS was still under immense pressure. Virus patients are occupying 37,475 hospital beds – more than at any point before in the pandemic. Professor Stephen Powis, of NHS England, told a Downing Street briefing that since Christmas Eve 15,000 Covid patients had been admitted – enough to fill ‘well over 20 hospitals’. He added: ‘Our staff are managing magnificently. Nevertheless we are experiencing extreme pressure – more than we ever have before, more than the first peak.

‘So it is absolutely critical that we continue to stick to those social distancing rules that are in place, that we don’t rely yet on vaccines coming to our rescue.’

Official figures published last night suggest admissions are starting to ease off with 3,569 in England on Saturday. That is down from a peak of 4,134 five days earlier.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: ‘Signs indicate that cases are finally beginning to fall, but the damage being wrought is still severe – made evident by the drop in performance despite a reduction of attendances.

‘Any kind of recovery remains some way off.’

Data collected by the college reveals that only 69 per cent of patients attending A&E are admitted within four hours.

And more than 5 per cent have to wait at least 12 hours.

The spokesman said: ‘ A lot has been asked of the public in the last ten months – and more will be asked of them still.’