By England’s R number has dropped slightly to between 0.7 and 1 – while the average level of coronavirus infection has fallen sharply across the UK, according to the latest data.
In a trend described as “encouraging” by statisticians, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 has also fallen across all the home nations and the number of infections per population is also tumbling.
Around one in 480 people in England are estimated to have had coronavirus in the week ending 10 April, down from one in 340 the previous week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
It is the lowest figure since the week to 19 September last year. Despite the overall positive news, there is still huge variation between different regions.
