Half of the total UK population is now double-vaxxed
More than 33m people have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the latest government figures, but the number of deaths from Covid is slowly edging up too.
The number of people who have now received full vaccine protection in the UK equates to 50.5 per cent of the total UK population of more than 66.6m. The proportion of the UK’s adult population that is now double-vaxxed stands at 86.2 per cent.
Government figures showed the number of positive cases of the virus reported in the 24 hours to 6 July was 28,773 and in the week to 7 July was 186,422 – up 49 per cent from the previous week.
The daily case rate is still well below the 100,000 daily figure that the new health secretary Sajid Javid today warned the UK could reach once all restrictions are lifted.
He indicated that ministers expect the virus to surge once the country reaches stage four of the roadmap out of lockdown – and cautioned that the UK is about to enter “unchartered territory.”
Today’s government Covid update also reported 37 deaths in the last 24 hours – the largest count since 23 April.
Neil Ferguson, a Covid modeller and epidemiologist at Imperial College London, told the BBC’s Today programme this morning that the PM’s announcement of the lifting of most restrictions from 19 July was a “slight gamble”, but justified.
“At the peak of the second wave, 50,000 cases would translate into something like 500 deaths, but that’s going to be much, much lower this time, more like 50 or so,” he said.
But Ferguson cautioned that policy will have to remain “flexible”, and their may be need for a “course correction later” if the UK ends up in something close to the worst case scenario that scientists were looking at.