Pressure is mounting on the UK to scrap its daily Covid stats after Ireland said it would discontinue its updates.
Experts told MailOnline that the UK’s daily infection numbers are showing a ‘diminishingly small proportion’ of actual cases now that free testing has been scrapped for the vast majority of Britons.
Ireland’s Department of Health today confirmed it will ‘no longer’ publish daily Covid figures. Instead, outbreak figures will be ‘updated regularly’ on the country’s Covid dashboard.
The country’s health chiefs will continue to monitor all information relating to the epidemiology of the virus, including case numbers, local outbreaks and trends, as well as the emergence and detection of new variants in Ireland and abroad.
Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist based at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline the UK will follow suit ‘at some point’ and it is ‘quite right’ that Covid data is only shared through weekly updates — as is done for influenza — as the crisis becomes an epidemic.
But UK health bosses told MailOnline that there are ‘currently no plans’ to scrap the daily numbers, which today showed 12,421 new positive tests, down 37 per cent on last week.
The daily figures also revealed deaths reached their lowest total since the start of the month, dropping by a fifth. And hospitalisations also continued to plunge, dropping 23.4 per cent to 1,260 on Monday, the latest date data is available for.
Separate Government statistics showed England’s Covid outbreak has shrunk to its lowest size in two months as the country’s latest wave continues to recede naturally.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests 2.4million people in England were infected with the virus any day last week, equivalent to one in 25 people — down by a quarter on the previous week.
The huge surveillance study, based on swabs of 120,000 people and considered the best way of measuring the nation’s outbreak, logged its lowest figure since the week beginning February 26.
Just weeks ago, NHS leaders were calling for face masks and outdoor mixing to return to bring down infection rates, which had spiralled to pandemic highs.
Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests 2.4million people in England were infected with the virus last week, equivalent to one in 25 people — down by a quarter in just seven days
Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist based at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: ‘I think at some point the UK will be doing that [ditching daily numbers] as well and that’s quite proportionate.
‘As the disease becomes an epidemic and gets to equilibrium it’s quite right that we start to treat Covid as we treat influenza, which we do weekly figures for.
‘Daily numbers are showing a diminishingly small proportion of cases that have been occurring.
‘Data from the ONS suggests daily numbers show only one in 13 cases, compared to other moments in pandemic when one in two or one in three cases have been spotted.’
A spokesperson for the UK Health Security Agency said: ‘As we move forward in the pandemic, changes to reporting across the four nations means Covid metrics will be updated on different dates and schedules.
‘Variations in reporting schedules should be considered when looking at reported Covid figures and day-to-day comparisons may therefore be misleading.
‘There are currently no plans to cease reporting Covid data on the UKHSA dashboard.’
It comes as ONS data today showed cases fell in every part of England and among all age groups last week.
They also declined in Scotland and Wales, however the trend was uncertain in Northern Ireland.
The ONS has released an interactive map that allows you to look up the case rate in your local area in the most recent week.
Kara Steel, a senior statistician at the ONS, said: ‘Infections have thankfully continued to decrease across most of the UK, though we are yet to see if this is part of a larger trend.’
Despite the ‘welcome decreases’ in infections, she warned case rates ‘remain high’.
Since the more transmissible but milder Omicron strains took off across the country in December, Covid cases have soared to record levels, with 4.1million infections logged at the latest peak last month.
NHS hospitals — tasked with tackling the backlog of patients whose care was disrupted by the pandemic —felt pressure from the resurgence, even though virus admissions were only half of in previous waves.
But the number of patients occupying intensive care beds barely changed throughout the latest wave, illustrating how the threat of Covid has receded thanks to the country’s sky-high immunity rates.
Deaths in England never breached 250 a day in April, similar to levels seen in bad flu seasons.
The latest ONS data estimates that Covid prevalence rates fell to 2,408,300 in England in the week to April 23, the equivalent to roughly 4.42 per cent of people being infected.
The figure is 25.2 per cent lower than one week earlier, when the statisticians estimated there were 3,218,700 cases.
Virus prevalence also continued to fall in Scotland, where 218,000 people (one in 25, 4.14 per cent) were infected, and in Wales, where 172,300 (one in 18, 5.67 per cent) were thought to be carrying the virus.
Some 74,700 people in Northern Ireland were infected (one in 25, 4.07 per cent).
But ONS bosses warned it was not clear if cases were rising or falling in the country.
The ONS said Omicron subvariant BA.2 was behind 96.5 per cent of cases in the four weeks to April 25.
The infection survey data also shows cases fell in all regions of England last week.
The latest ONS data shows Covid rates fell to 2,408,300 in England in the week to April 23, equivalent to 4.42 per cent of people being infected. The figure is 25.2 per cent lower than one week earlier, when the statisticians estimated there were 3,218,700 cases. Virus prevalence also continued to fall in Scotland, where 218,000 people (one in 25, 4.14 per cent) were infected, and in Wales, where 172,300 (one in 18, 5.67 per cent) were thought to be carrying the virus. Some 74,700 people in Northern Ireland were infected (one in 25, 4.07 per cent). But ONS bosses warned it was not clear if cases were rising or falling in the country
The infection survey data also shows cases fell in all regions of England last week. Infection levels were highest in the North East, where 6.1 per cent of people were infected, followed by the West Midlands (5.2 per cent), Yorkshire and the Humber (4.9 per cent), the East Midlands (4.4 per cent) and the North West (4.3 per cent). Rates were below the national average in the South West (4.3 per cent), South East (4.1 per cent), East (4.1 per cent) and London (3.6 per cent)
England-wide estimates from the ONS also show cases fell in all age groups. Cases remained highest among the over-70s, with 5 per cent of the group testing positive, followed by 50 to 69-year-olds (4.9 per cent), 35 to 49-year-olds (4.5 per cent) and 25 to 34-year-olds (4.3 per cent). Rates were lowest among children and young adults, with 2.7 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds infected, 1.8 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds testing positive and 2.1 per cent of two to 10 year-olds carrying the virus
Infection levels were highest in the North East, where 6.1 per cent of people were infected, followed by the West Midlands (5.2 per cent), Yorkshire and the Humber (4.9 per cent), the East Midlands (4.4 per cent) and the North West (4.3 per cent).
Rates were below the national average in the South West (4.3 per cent), South East (4.1 per cent), East (4.1 per cent) and London (3.6 per cent).
England-wide estimates from the ONS also show cases fell in all age groups. Cases remained highest among the over-70s, with 5 per cent of the group testing positive, followed by 50 to 69-year-olds (4.9 per cent), 35 to 49-year-olds (4.5 per cent) and 25 to 34-year-olds (4.3 per cent).
Rates were lowest among children and young adults, with 2.7 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds infected, 1.8 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds testing positive and 2.1 per cent of two to 10 year-olds carrying the virus.
Meanwhile, Tory MPs today claimed visiting bans still in place in some hospitals and care homes are illegal.
They warned in a letter today that ‘over-interpretation of testing guidelines is leading to isolation, neglect and abuse of vulnerable residents’, saying that denying visitation is ‘inhumane and cruel’.
NHS guidelines were updated in March to allow two visitors ‘for at least one hour per day and ideally for longer’.
However, hospitals including Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, have maintained limited visitation to one per day ‘for a maximum of one hour’.
No10 changed the rules on care home visits in England on January 31, ditching all limits on the number of visitors in homes. Whole-home quarantine periods after a resident tests positive were also cut from 28 to 14 days.
But the Care Quality Commission in February revealed it had received complaints about visitation at 189 care services, including blanket bans on visiting at 82 homes.
MPs claim Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and the Mental Capacity Act ‘could and should have protected against this situation arising’.
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