UK Covid live: 1 in 65 people in England had coronavirus last week but R number falls slightly

The coronavirus reproduction number, or R number, in England has fallen slightly to between 1.1 and 1.4, government figures show. Last week the number was between 1.2 and 1.4.

The R number indicates the number of people one Covid-positive person will infect. When the number is above one, the outbreak can grow exponentioally, and when it is below it is shrinking.

An R number of 1.1 to 1.4 means that on average every 10 people infected will infect a further 11 to 14 people.

The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 is estimated to have increased in all regions of England, apart from eastern England and south-west England where the trend is uncertain, the ONS said.

North-east England had the highest proportion of people of any region likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to July 24 which was around one in 30, PA news reports.

North-west England had the second highest estimate, around one in 45.

Eastern England and south-west England had the lowest estimates at around one in 100.

Early Covid symptoms could be different between men and women and different age groups, new research suggests.

A study by a researcher from King’s College London, published in the Lancet Digital Health journal, found that men are more likely to report shortness of breath, fatigue, chills and fever. Women, meanwhile, are more likely to report loss of smell, chest pain and a persistent cough.

The research, which analysed data from the Zoe Covid Symptom Study app, also found that people aged 60-plus are more likely to report diarrhoea symptoms, while loss of smell was less common.

Labour has urged the government to follow the example of the US by allowing more Afghan interpreters who supported British troops to live in the UK.

It comes after dozens of former military commanders called on the government to allow more Afghans who worked for British forces to settle in Britain, saying in a letter to the prime minister that they were “gravely concerned” about hundreds of applications from interpreters being rejected.

The first flight evacuating interpreters and other people who worked alongside the US in Afghanistan arrived in Washington today.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said the UK has “an obligation” to do the same.

He said:

I would like to see the Government show the same initiative.

The interpreters in Afghanistan have been hugely important to us and we owe them a moral duty to look after them now in the circumstances.

So I would like to see our Government matching the commitment of the US on this and the sooner we are able to do this, the better.

He added:

We owe an obligation to those who have helped us in Afghanistan, the interpreters who have courageously helped us.

We can’t abandon them, therefore we must make a commitment to them. The US looks like it is going down that route, but we should take the step in any event.

More from Keir Starmer, who says there needs to be a “distinction” between mass events and “day-to-day needs” on proving Covid status.

The Labour leader told broadcasters:

There is a distinction between those massive events and the day-to-day needs of every day life, and certainly we shouldn’t be going down the road of passports for day-to-day needs, for every day life.

We can’t have a situation where someone can’t have access to a health service or dentistry or supermarkets – that is something I don’t think anybody could seriously countenance, so we have to make this distinction.

But we need to be pragmatic, we need to look at whatever the Government puts on the table when it comes to longer term events, mass events etcetera.

One in 65 people in England and Northern Ireland had Covid-19 in the week ending 24 July, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as infection rates in both areas continued to rise.

The rate for England is the highest level since the week to 30 January.

One in 160 people in Wales had the virus and one in 110 in Scotland.

Coronavirus infection rates continued to rise in England, Wales and Northern Ireland last week, according to ONS data, while it decreased in Scotland.

The Delta variant continues to be the most common in the UK.

In England, the infection rates increased in all regions during the period, except for in the East of England and the South West.

Keir Starmer has said he does not agree with the government’s “jabs for jobs” policy.

He told broadcasters:

I don’t agree with that. I can see a case for vaccine passports, alongside testing, when it comes to big sporting events or mass events, certainly for international travel. But for day-to-day routine – access to the office, access to health services or dentistry or even food – I don’t agree with vaccine passports for day-to-day access.

It comes after the Labour leader earlier challenged the government to bring forward the date when fully vaccinated people in England can avoid coronavirus isolation (see 09:52).

Dominic Wilkinson, professor of medical ethics and director of medical ethics at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, says the ethical case for mandating vaccines differs between settings.

He told Sky News that it is “only fair” that those working in care homes get vaccinated because their at risk patients aren’t in the position to choose, while the ethical case is “weaker” in settings where the risks are lower – such as an office where everybody is healthy or vaccinated.

Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, a former White House health policy advisor, says mandates are for the public good and “perfectly justified”.