The number of people falling ill with Covid dropped last week, according to a symptom-tacking study despite schools reopening.
King's College London scientists suggested 51,876 people suffered with the virus in the week ending September 4, down nine per cent on the previous week (57,158).
Children returned to schools on Wednesday last week in England, meaning the data only includes half a week of the start of term.
It takes at least a week for cases to start appearing because of how long it takes for the virus to incubate but the figures show symptomatic cases were already highest in people aged 18 and younger.
Overall cases in Scotland increased during the same period, where children were back in classes as early as August 18. Prevalence was also highest in schoolage children.
Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist and lead scientist of the study, said the return to classrooms 'hasn't yet caused a spike' in infections.
Meanwhile separate figures from NHS Test and Trace showed a total of 191,431 people tested positive for Covid in England at least once in the week to September 1, down four per cent on the previous week.
The number of people testing positive has been around 200,000 in the six most-recent weeks of data.
But both King's College and NHS Tests and Trace use delayed data, with official figures from the Department of Health showing an increase in infections since September 4.
The UK recorded 38,975 new positive tests today — a jump of 9.2 per cent on the 35,693 recorded last Wednesday.
Hospital admissions with the virus also continued to increase at a similar rate, rising 10.8 per cent to 933 on September 4, the latest date data is available for.
Symptomatic cases were highest in people aged 18 and younger, despite children only returning to schools on Wednesday last week in England
The Midlands has the highest number of total new cases in England with 8,070 per day. Graph shows: Estimated active cases in each region
In the fully vaccinated population, it’s estimated there are currently 17,674 new daily symptomatic cases in the UK. Cases in this group had been rising steadily but have now stabilised, with last week's figure being 17,342
