Covid-19 positive tests fell for the first time since early December, according to new Test and Trace figures.
A total of 330,871 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to January 13, according to the latest Test and Trace figures.
The number is down by 15% on the previous week and is the first week-on-week fall since the start of December.
Some 53.7% of people who were tested for Covid-19 in England in the week ending January 13 at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit – a so-called “in-person” test – received their result within 24 hours.
This is up from 31.6% in the previous week and is the highest figure since the week to December 9.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pledged that, by the end of June 2020, the results of all in-person tests would be back within 24 hours.
He told the House of Commons on June 3 that he would get “all tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that”.
Last night, Boris Johnson warned more people will lose their lives in the coronavirus pandemic, after the UK saw its deadliest day in the pandemic.
Official figures showed that January 12 saw the highest number of deaths take place on a single day – with 1,110 Covid-19 fatalities, surpassing the previous peak of 1,073 on April 8, 2020.
The Prime Minister described the figures as “appalling” and warned “there will be more to come”, saying we are seeing the result of the new variant that spread rapidly just before Christmas.
