Covid-19 in the UK

Covid-19 infections in the UK continue to fall, the latest weekly Office for National Statistics figures suggest.

Around 1.4 million people in the UK had coronavirus in the week ending 16 August, down from around 1.7 million the previous week.

In total more than 187,000 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test, but the number of people with Covid-19 on their death certificates is over 202,000.

A Covid vaccination programme has so far reached nine in 10 people aged 12 and over with a first dose.

Booster jabs are being offered to the most vulnerable from early September, to help protection during winter.

Cases across UK

The latest estimates on Covid infections for the week ending 16 August showed a fall of 16% on the previous week, with an estimated one in every 45 people infected. This was about 2.2% of the population.

All four nations saw a decrease in total infections, the ONS said.

Infections also decreased in all English regions and age groups, though the trend among those aged 25 to 34 was uncertain.

The ONS says it will "closely monitor" the numbers as children return to the classroom.

The survey is thought to give the best picture of infections across the UK because people are selected to take part at random. Survey participants across the country are tested weekly and there is a lag of several days before the figures are published.

Scotland, Wales and England have limited the number of free Covid tests available since early April. Tests can be privately bought, but the results are not reported on the government website.

Hospital numbers

As of 18 August, government figures for the whole of the UK show 9,111 people with coronavirus were in hospital, down from 10,146 a week earlier. These are the latest figures available for all the UK nations.

More recent figures for England show 6,302 people in hospital with coronavirus as of 24 August, down from 7,486 the previous week.

The proportion of people being treated for very severe infections and needing intensive care remain lower than earlier in the pandemic, as vaccinations continue to protect people from severe disease.

Weekly Covid deaths

In the week to 12 August, there were 674 new Covid death registrations across the UK, according to the ONS.

These include all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate even if the person had not been tested for the virus.

This differs from the number of daily deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test.

Death toll over 200,000

When looking at the overall death toll from coronavirus, official figures count deaths in different ways, each giving a different number.

First, government figures - the ones reported by nations - count people who died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus. This figure is over 187,000, though both Scotland and Northern Ireland have stopped reporting this measure.

According to the latest figures, the UK has now seen more than 202,000 deaths in total when counting death certificates mentioning Covid-19 as a cause.

The third measure counts all deaths over and above the expected number since the pandemic began - that figure was over 164,000 as of 12 August. It is sometimes referred to as excess deaths above the long-term average.

Vaccine rollout continuing

More than 53 million people, about 94% of those aged 12 and over in the UK, have now received a first dose of a vaccine.

The number of people who have received a second vaccine dose is over 50 million, or 88% of people aged 12 and over.

So far, 40 million booster doses have been administered across the UK.

An extra booster jab rollout is under way for people aged 75 and over, residents in care homes and those with weakened immune systems. The government announced last month that everyone aged 50 and over in the UK will be offered another Covid booster vaccine this autumn.

Note: We have removed the lookup and interactive map that had been on this page previously. This is because of a combination of reduced testing, changes to the rules on when tests are taken and changes to the data available from the government coronavirus dashboard.