Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash
Coronavirus infections have strongly declined across England due to strict lockdown measures. A survey conducted by the Imperial College London included 85,000 volunteers taking place for over a week in February, and is reported the widest scale survey conducted to assess the outbreak level among the population.
The results; the infection fell by nearly two-thirds compared to January, with 1 in 196 people being infected as opposed to the 1 in 63 people on the previous month. Cases have dropped by up to 80 percent in London.
The study also found that the reduction has occurred in all ages, in most regions of England. This suggests that the decline was due to the nationwide curbs of daily life, according to the researchers.
The lockdown states that all residents across all of England must stay home, the exceptions being those out to do exercise, medical reasons, religious worship, or shopping for essentials.
The U.K. was one of the countries that responded swiftly by setting up vaccination campaigns- approving multiple injections in order to innoculate its population and curb the heightening rate of infection. All this while battling the new, highly transmissible variant of the Coronavirus first discovered in England’s southeast region.
“We do not yet know whether being vaccinated stops someone from passing the virus on to others,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement Thursday. “It will also be some time before the impact of the vaccination program reduces pressure on hospitals.”
“These encouraging results show that lockdown measures are effectively bringing infections down. It’s reassuring that the reduction in numbers of infections occurred in all ages and in most regions across the country,” Paul Elliott, director of the program at Imperial College states.
He further adds that despite the results, we should still actively work to keep infections down by following the measures designed to protect the populace and the health system.
