Britain is 'worryingly close' to 100,000 new Covid infections per day, the country's largest symptom-tracking study warned today despite Government data showing the outbreak is in retreat.
King's College London researchers estimated there were 92,953 people falling ill with the virus per day across the UK last week, up 14 per cent on the previous seven days.
Cases are rising across all age groups, although the proportion of cases remains highest in under-18s with nearly 44,000 infected on any given day.
There was also uptick in the rate of increase in the more vulnerable age groups 55 to 75, the researchers said.
The latest survey figures were based on data from around 43,000 lateral flow and PCR tests done between October 9 and October 23.
Professor Tim Spector, the epidemiologist who leads the study, warned that the Government's figures were a 'big underestimate' and may be missing 40 per cent of cases.
The Department of Health's daily reports only include cases confirmed by a PCR test — which are more reliable than lateral flow devices. They showed new infections fell for the fourth day in a row yesterday, dropping 10.6 per cent to 43,941.
SAGE member Professor John Edmunds, whose grim modelling in July predicted hospitalisations would have reached 3,500 a day by now, said the fall in cases may have been caused by rising immunity in children.
And the low numbers in the official figures have lead to Government sources claiming the chance of ministers activating their winter Covid 'Plan B' is less than 20 per cent.
King's College London researchers estimated there were 92,953 people falling ill with the virus on average across the UK last week, up 14 per cent on the previous seven days
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Cases are high in all regions of England and highest in the North West (purple line), where they are in excess of 2,000 per 100,000 people
Professor Spector said: 'The ZOE data