Covid-19 deaths in London ‘hit zero’ on several days this month

Spring weather Mar 20th 2021
Health chiefs say some of these figures may change up to five days afterwards
PA

Deaths from Covid-19 have fallen to zero on several days so far this month in London as the disease is pushed further onto the retreat, official figures reveal today.

They currently show that no deaths, within 28 days of individuals testing positive for coronavirus, were recorded in the capital on April 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, with zero also announced yesterday.

Health chiefs say some of these figures may change up to five days afterwards, or possibly even later, so certainly the most recent need to be treated with caution.

However, they highlight how fatalities from the disease in the city are now at a very low level.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, chairman of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge university, stressed the virus was on the decline in the country.

“All the indicators are running at extremely good levels,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today show.

“Deaths are very low, well lower than a five-year average, cases, hospitalisations, they are all very low. This was completely predictable and the arguments were completely predictable that around now people think ‘why do we have to wait another two months before we are free of all these restrictions’.

“We have just got to say that they (the Government) are being very cautious.” He also supported Boris Johnson on what is driving the fall in infections.

“It’s the lockdown that has caused the major drop, of course, because we have seen that happen in the huge reduction in the people who have not been vaccinated,” he explained.

“It’s estimated the vaccines have maybe saved 10,000 lives, fantastic success. But that’s not what has brought the enormous reduction since earlier in the year, that is lockdown.”

The UK yesterday recorded another 23 coronavirus deaths, bringing the official death toll to 127,123. In the seven days up to yesterday, 241 fatalities were recorded, a rise of 29 on the previous week.

Meanwhile, figures today revealed an estimated 54.9 per cent of people in private households in England were likely to have tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies in the week to March 28.

The presence of Covid-19 antibodies suggests someone has had the infection in the past or has been vaccinated.

The Office for National Statistics said antibody positivity has levelled off in England, Wales and Scotland. In Wales, the latest estimate is 49.1 per cent and for Scotland it is 46 per cent.

In Northern Ireland, an estimated 54.5 per cent of people were likely to have Covid-19 antibodies in the week to March 28 — up from 50 per cent in the previous week.

The ONS said the latest figures show a fall in antibody positivity rates among older people, which was likely to be because the data does not yet show the impact of second doses of Covid-19 vaccinations.

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