‘One in six people in London has already had coronavirus’

AROUND one in six people in London and one in 20 elsewhere in England have already had coronavirus, it emerged yesterday.

Data gathered from an antibody surveillance study led by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests 17% of people in London and around 5% in England have tested positive for antibodies to coronavirus, England’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the daily Downing Street briefing.

While it remains unclear what level of immunity people develop once they have had Covid-19, experts hope a degree of immunity lasts for at least a year or two.

Ahead of the briefing, Downing Street announced a U-turn on the NHS surcharge, saying overseas health and care staff will be exempted from the fee levied on migrants to pay for the NHS.

It came after mounting pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson from senior Tories, with former party chairman Lord Patten calling the charge “appalling” and “monstrous”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who urged Mr Johnson in the Commons on Wednesday to scrap the charge, said: “Boris Johnson is right to have backed our proposal to remove the NHS charge for health professionals and care workers.

“This is a victory for common decency. We cannot clap our carers one day and then charge them to use our NHS the next.”

Meanwhile John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow Airport, signalled his tacit support for government plans to impose a 14-day quarantine programme for anyone arriving in the UK from abroad, but firmly backed the idea of “air bridges” between countries with lower infection levels.

* Crime in England and Wales has fallen by a quarter during the Covid19 lockdown, new figures show.

* There was no evidence of increased infection from coronavirus among frontline NHS and care staff compared with those not working in such roles during two weeks in May, according to the ONS.