Wales has higher Covid rate than rest of UK
MORE people in Wales have Covid than any other part of the UK, relative to the size of the population, according to the latest data. The infection rate in Wales has risen again and is higher than it has ever been at any other point in the pandemic.
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey suggests that 231,900 people in Wales had the disease in the week ending April 9. That is equivalent to 7.63% of the population or around one in 13 people. It is a small rise on the 7.59% of the population estimated to have Covid-19 in the previous week in Wales.
The infection rate is falling in most parts of the UK including England as a whole, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However it is still rising in the north east region of England.
The ONS survey is now the most reliable method of assessing the spread of Covid in Wales as it is based on a randomised survey and is not dependent on routing testing, which is now no longer available in any part of the UK.
How does Wales compare to other areas of the UK?
■ Wales – estimated that 231,900 people had Covid over the previous week equating to 7.63% of the population or around one in 13 people.
■ England – estimated that 3,773,800 people had Covid equating to 6.92% of the population or around one in 14 people.
■ Northern Ireland – estimated that 95,900 people had Covid equating to 5.23% of the population or around one in 19 people.
■ Scotland – estimated that 314,800 people had Covid equating to 5.98% of the population or around one in 17 people.
Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: “Across most parts of the UK infections have thankfully begun to decrease. It is too early to say if we have passed the peak of infections and infections overall remain high. We will continue to carefully monitor the data moving forward.”
The ONS gathers this data by actively swabbing people at random to try to build a picture of the current Covid situation.
The latest data from lateral flow tests taken in Wales shows there have been fewer positive tests in the last week, down to 22,784 from 25,611. However changes to testing requirements, as tests are only available to people with symptoms, mean that it is no longer a reliable guide to the pandemic.
Figures from hospitals show that the number of people in acute hospitals being treated for Covid, as opposed to being in hospital for another reason and testing positive for Covid, has risen in the last week. There are currently 124 patients being treated for Covid in Welsh hospitals out of 704 patients who are Covid positive.
The number of Covid patients in ventilated intensive care beds has also risen in the last week and is now at 25, the highest figure since January, although this remains far below the peak of any of the three major Covid waves.