The period of “excess deaths” which has characterised the second wave of COVID-19 has now come to an end, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
For the first time since September, the number of people dying of all causes in England and Wales has dropped beneath the five-year average.
According to the figures, 10,987 people died in the week ending 12 March, which was 511 below the historical average for that week, the 10th week of the year.
Everyone over 40 should be offered their first Covid-19 vaccine by Easter, with a “bumper boost” to supplies allowing the programme to rapidly expand next week, The Telegraph can reveal.
Stocks are expected to more than double, allowing the NHS to administer up to a million doses a day in coming weeks, government sources said.
It means that all over-50s are expected to receive an invitation for a jab over the next week – around three weeks ahead of the Government’s target.
The Prime Minister had promised that jabs would be offered to all over-50s by April 15, and to everyone over the age of 18 by the end of July.
However, senior government sources said the programme was already far ahead of expectations and about to accelerate dramatically.
As a result, there is growing confidence that all adults over 40 will have been offered a first dose of the vaccine before Easter, which falls on April 4. It will also increase pressure on the Government to speed up the exit from lockdown.
On Friday night, Tory MPs said the progress, combined with continued falls in cases and hospitalisations, meant pubs and restaurants should be allowed to open from Easter. The current plan allows only “al fresco” hospitality to open a week later, with indoor eating and drinking not allowed until May.
The UK’s R number has now dropped to between 0.6 and 0.8, down from 0.7 to 0.9 a week ago, with prevalence of coronavirus in England now the lowest it has been since September, according to the Office for National Statistics.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/12/exclusive-vaccines-40s-easter-bumper-boost-supplies/
Vaccines appear to cut Covid transmissions and infections by two-thirds according to the first “real world data” examining their impact, The Telegraph can disclose.
Key data being handed to Boris Johnson as he finalises a roadmap out of lockdown shows that just one dose of either the Oxford or Pfizer vaccines has such an effect on all age groups.
Mr Johnson and his scientific advisers are expected to examine key findings showing the impact of the jabs on transmission, infection, hospitalisations and deaths.
Whitehall sources said the studies would be a crucial part of deliberations over Britain’s route out of lockdown and that all the findings so far were “very encouraging”.
Separate data shows that Covid cases are falling most rapidly among the oldest, with care home outbreaks almost halving in a week.
The statistics appear to vindicate Britain’s strategy of vaccinating by age order, with cases among those over the age of 80 falling by 38 per cent in seven days.
https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-covid-jabs-data-pave-205914284.html
England’s vaccination programme is starting to pay off, with the over-80s age group now the most likely to test positive for coronavirus antibodies, Office for National Statistics testing suggests.
Blood tests reveal more over-80s than any other age group in England are showing signs of some immunity against Covid infection.
People have antibodies to Covid if they’ve had an infection in the last few months or if they have been vaccinated.
Previously, younger age groups who were more likely to be exposed to the virus were the most likely to test positive for antibodies.
In England, 41% of over-80s tested positive for antibodies, which the ONS said was “most likely due to the high vaccination rate in this group”.
Two weeks ago that figure was 26%.
It takes two to three weeks for immunity to build after vaccination.
An Israeli healthcare provider that has vaccinated half a million people with both doses of the Pfizer vaccine says that only 544 people — or 0.1% — have been subsequently diagnosed with the coronavirus, there have been four severe cases, and no people have died.
That means the effectiveness rate stands at 93 percent, Maccabi Healthcare Services announced on Thursday, after comparing its immunized members to a “diverse” control group of unvaccinated members.
Full protection against COVID-19 for people who have been vaccinated is believed to kick in a week after the second shot, so the Maccabi data covers all those of its members who are seven or more days after receiving that second dose.
Maccabi’s statistics are being closely monitored around the world, for giving the first major insight into how the vaccine performs outside of clinical trials. And they are being widely hailed for indicating that real-word effectiveness is close to the 95% efficacy cited after Pfizer’s clinical trials.
“This data unequivocally proves that the vaccine is very effective and we have no doubt that it has saved the lives of many Israelis,” said senior Maccabi official Dr. Miri Mizrahi Reuveni after the new data release.
Lockdown restrictions in the UK are beginning to work, scientists said on Friday, as several studies showed coronavirus infections falling in England and most of the rest of the country.
The latest official estimate of R, the average number of people to whom someone infected passes the virus, is between 0.8 and 1.0 both for the UK and for England.
“The number of new infections is likely to be shrinking by between 1 per cent and 4 per cent every day,” said Sage, the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies.
Last week Sage put R for the UK at 1.2 to 1.3.
More good news came from the latest Office for National Statistics infections survey. ONS estimated that during the week ending January 16, just over 1m people in England had Covid-19, equivalent to about 1 in 55 or 1.8 per cent of the population.
https://www.ft.com/content/50b5563a-c025-44ce-a135-2eb13be96c07
The number of people in England with COVID-19 fell below 500,000 last week for the first time since mid-October, an official estimate showed on Friday.
The Office for National Statistics reckoned 481,500 people in England had COVID-19 during the week from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, down 8% on the previous week.
The estimate, formulated with the University of Oxford, is based on samples of the population.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-england-idUKKBN28L1HIHELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!
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Coronavirus infection rates are levelling off in England and Scotland and decreasing in Wales and Northern Ireland, latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests.
It shows rates in school-age children are still rising while falling in young adults.
The R number for the UK continues to fall and is now between 1 and 1.1.
But that doesn’t yet reflect the impact of the second lockdown in England, introduced on 5 November.
The government’s scientific advisers, Sage, say the epidemic in the north-west of England is now shrinking, although infection levels in the region still remain high.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55016893HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!
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The R number for the UK has fallen to between 1 and 1.2, the closest it’s been to 1 since early September.
It comes as the Office for National Statistics says the number of people infected with coronavirus is slowing down.
Data up to 6 November, the day after England’s second lockdown began, shows infections falling in the north west but rising in the south and Midlands.
In Northern Ireland, infection rates were levelling off, the ONS says.
But in Wales rising infection levels were still continuing.
And it’s too early to say if they were stabilising a week ago in Scotland.
Although growth may be slowing in some parts of the country, the government’s scientific advisers say “significant levels of healthcare demand and mortality will persist until R is reduced to and remains well below 1 for an extended period of time”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54930836HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!
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