One in 25 people in England had Covid last week

Official figures show one in 15 people in London had coronavirus in week ending 23 December

One in 25 people in England had Covid last week, rising to one in 15 in London, official figures have revealed.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, an estimated 4% of people in the community in England had Covid in the week ending 23 December – about 2,024,700 people. The week before, about one in 35 people in England were estimated to have had Covid.

The study revealed infections have increased across all regions of the UK as the Omicron variant continues to fuel record numbers.

“The highest rates of infections were seen in London, where one in 15 would have tested positive, and the lowest in the north-east of England, where one in 45 would have tested positive for Covid-19,” the report notes.

Infection levels also rose in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the most recent week, with the latest estimates suggesting that for all three countries about one in 40 people had Covid in the week ending 23 December.

The study also reveals that Omicron is now the dominant variant in England and Scotland.

“Infection levels have continued to increase across the UK, with England’s increase driven largely by London, which has the highest rate of infection seen in this survey,” said Sarah Crofts, the head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey.

“Omicron is now the dominant variant in both England and Scotland, and has been growing rapidly in Northern Ireland and Wales,” she added. “We’ve also seen infections rise in all age groups, with school-aged children and young adults seeing the highest rates.”