The Covid second wave seems to be slowing, with swab testing figures showing a fall in new infections. There are now 8,400 new infections per day, down from 9,600 daily during the previous week, the Office for National Statistics estimates.
For six weeks, the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey has studied almost 300,000 test swabs from randomly selected members of the public, whether they have symptoms or not.
But Katherine Kent, co-head of analysis for the project, said: “While the evidence suggests the increase in new cases may be levelling off after a sharp rise in August and September, it is too early to be certain at this stage.” It came as the official UK death toll rose by 66 to 42,268.