Covid infections in Wales rise for sixth week in a row

The number of people In Wales with Covid-19 is continuing to increase, according to the latest figures released by the Office for National statistics.

The latest weekly Infection Survey, which covers the seven days up to 30 June, estimated the number of people testing positive for Covid in Wales was 183,500 equating to 6.04% of the population, or around 1 in 17 people.

The number of infections recorded in the latest study is up by over 20% from the previous week but is significantly lower than the 40% and 55% increases reported over the previous two surveys.

This week’s ONS report confirms cases in Wales have risen for the sixth straight week.

Scotland

Covid-19 remains most prevalent in Scotland, where 334,000 people were estimated to have had the virus in the week to July 7, or around one in 16.

This is up from 312,800, or one in 17, and is the highest estimate for Scotland since the start of April.

In England, 2.9 million people were likely to have had the virus last week, the equivalent of around one in 19.

This is up from 2.2 million, or one in 25, the previous week.

In Northern Ireland, infections have increased to an estimated 107,600 people, or one in 17, up from 98,400, or one in 19.

The number of infections across the UK has jumped by nearly 800,000 in the last week.

A total of 3.5 million people in private households are estimated to have had Covid-19 last week, up 29% from 2.7 million the previous week.

This is the highest estimate for total infections since mid-April, but is still below the record high of 4.9 million that was reached at the end of March.

Sarah Crofts, ONS head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: “Infections are showing no signs of decreasing, with rates approaching levels last seen in March at the peak of the BA.2 wave.

“Rates have continued to increase across the UK and among all age groups. We will continue to closely monitor the data.”