Coronavirus infections levelling off in some of UK

Coronavirus infections may be levelling off in some of the UK, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The figures for the week up to 6 March suggest new cases continue to fall in England and Wales, but not in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The UK's latest R number - 0.6 and 0.8 - suggests the outbreak is shrinking.

It means that, on average, every 10 people infected in the UK will infect between 6 and 8 other people.

Meanwhile, the UK has reported 6,609 cases of coronavirus and 175 Covid deaths in the latest 24-hour period. More than 23 million people have had a first dose of coronavirus vaccine.

According to the ONS statistics, there are around 231,400 people in the community with the virus, or around one in every 280 people in the UK is infected.

That's an improvement on last week's figure of one in every 230.

It is too soon to predict, from these statistics, what effect the reopening of schools might have on infection rates going forward, say experts.

The ONS results, based on tests from people whether or not they had symptoms, show:

There are "early signs" of a possible increase in the percentage of people testing positive in the South East and South West of England, says the ONS.

Rates have decreased in the North East, North West, East Midlands, East of England and London, and the trend is uncertain in Yorkshire and The Humber and the West Midlands.

But caution should be taken in over-interpreting the small changes, it says.

The estimates for people testing positive for the virus are: