Infectious Disease

Despite reopening, the UK is seeing six days of decline in COVID-19 cases

HealthDay News – COVID-19 cases in the UK have decreased for six consecutive days, despite the government lifting all but a few social distancing restrictions last week.

The shift is causing scientists to scratch their heads as many of them have predicted a sharp surge in cases after the government reopened the country. The steady decline can be due to short-term factors such as the school summer break, the end of the European Football Championship or fewer test subjects. Scientists therefore say it will take a few more days to draw final conclusions, The New York Times reports.

There were 24,950 new cases on Monday, up from a high of 54,674 on July 17, The Times reported. Hospital admissions and deaths are still higher than they were a week ago, but both tend to be delayed indicators.

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Leaked data suggests that about half of all new COVID-19 cases in hospitalized patients were people cared for for other illnesses and were detected through routine testing, according to the Daily Telegraph, The Times reported. Experts say this would be an encouraging sign as it suggests that most of these patients didn’t even realize they had COVID-19, which confirms that vaccines reduce the risk of serious illness. Just over 70 percent of adults in the UK are fully vaccinated.

The New York Times article

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