According to most recent official data, the COVID Delta strain has been on a steady decline in every single region in England except for the South East.
Discover our latest podcast
Promising figures
Despite recent growing number of cases in the UK, it appears that previous COVID hotspots, such as London and the South West, have seen the spread of the virus nearly half in numbers over the past week. Professor Tim Spector, who runs the country's largest symptom-tracking study, stressed that although numbers have been on the decline, the population must remain vigilant:
Data this week shows rates in former hotspots, such as Scotland and the North West of England, continuing to plateau. At the same time, top UK holiday destinations like Cornwall are emerging as new areas with rapidly increasing cases.
The news has since bolstered hopes that strict social distancing measures will not have to remain in place past 19 July to fight off the ravaging Delta variant. Although yesterday the UK recorded more than 16,000 new cases, experts believe this is mainly due to an upsurge in testing that is currently taking place in Scotland.
An inevitable up-tick
This, coupled with the easing of social distancing measures over the last couple of weeks as well as large gatherings that have taken place in light of Euro2020, scientists say a sizeable increase was inevitable. Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia explains that:
I can't see any reason why July 19 shouldn't be the end of lockdown.We're getting to that point where we've got to let this virus do what it will because it's going to be here forever.
Before adding:
To be honest, I can start imaging why extending it may actually be detrimental. If the virus is going to eventually circulate, you want it to happen while you've got a good level of immunity.
