UK lockdown cuts COVID-19 infections but prevalence remains high, study finds

LONDON (Reuters) – England’s third national COVID-19 lockdown is helping reduce infections, a study found Thursday, but the prevalence of cases remains high as Prime Minister Boris Johnson considers a cautious path to reopen the economy.

Johnson must establish a roadmap to get out of the lockdown, which began Jan.5 on Monday, and said it would be a cautious and cautious approach.

The study, known as REACT-1 and led by researchers at Imperial College London, found that the national prevalence was two-thirds lower between February 4 and 13 compared to the previous survey. which covered from January 6 to 22.

“This is really encouraging news. We believe the lockdown is having an effect. We saw this decline quite rapidly between January and this month, ”Paul Elliott, program director at Imperial, told reporters.

“But… the actual prevalence is still very high. We’re only back where we were in September. “

The latest figures showed that 51 out of 10,000 people were infected, compared to 157 out of 10,000 in the January survey, and that it takes 15 days for infections to halve.

Prevalence fell in all age groups from 0.93% to 0.30% in those over 65, although researchers said they had no evidence this was due to the vaccine rollout. which targeted older groups.

REACT-1 is one of England’s largest and most closely monitored prevalence surveys, and the researchers published the provisional results in a pre-print that had not been peer reviewed.

Health Minister Matt Hancock said the results were an encouraging sign the lockdown was working.

“While the trends we have seen are good news, we must all strive to reduce infections by sticking to the measures,” he said.