Wales now has lowest rate of Covid infections

WALES has the lowest Covid infection rate of any country in the UK, latest figures reveal.

New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that around 108,800 people in Wales had the virus in week ending July 25, equating to 3.58% of the population or around one in 30 people – a significant drop from the one in 19 recorded the previous week.

Across the UK Covid-19 infections have fallen for the second week in a row, adding further weight behind suggestions that the current wave of the virus has peaked. A total of 2.6 million people in private households in the UK were estimated to have had coronavirus in the most recent reporting week, down 19% from 3.2 million in the previous week.

Some 2.1 million people in England were likely to have tested positive for Covid-19 in the week to July 26, the equivalent of around one in 25, the ONS said. This is down from 2.6 million, or one in 20, a week earlier. In Scotland, 260,800 people were estimated to have had Covid-19 in the week to July 26, or around one in 20. This is down slightly from 272,000, or one in 19.

Northern Ireland is the only UK nation where the ONS describes the trend as “uncertain”. Infections there have dropped very slightly to 109,800, or one in 17, down from 113,400, or one in 16.

Separate figures showed in Wales, on August 4 there were 758 Covid-positive patients in general and acute beds – down from 774 the week before. There are also just 14 patients taking up invasive ventilated beds in intensive care – down from 19 the week before. Just 48 patients are being actively treated for the virus in acute Welsh hospitals, which is 11 fewer than seven days earlier.