THE UK’s daily Covid deaths have dropped below 200 for the first time in three days after a further 193 people lost their lives.
And daily cases have also plummeted – with 34,029 people testing positive on Friday.
It follows a week of soaring death tolls, with yesterday marking the third day in a row that tests crossed the 200 mark.
In comparison, on Wednesday the UK saw 217 deaths and 41,299 cases reported.
And on Tuesday, statistics showed another 293 deaths and 33,865 cases.
It comes as Covid-19 infections have dropped in schoolkids for the first time in weeks as the crucial R rate plummets to as low as 0.9.
Around one in 50 Brits are currently infected with Covid-19 and one expert this week claimed we had ‘passed the 2021’ peak of infections.
Rates have decreased in school kids in year 7 to 11, but still remain at high levels.
Official graphs from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that cases in this age group are still higher than others but that they have significantly tailed off in the last week.
Experts have warned that it’s too early to distinguish whether or not the October half term break has had an impact on infections.
The fall in infections in school age kids comes after the R rate dropped from 1.1 and 1.3 last week to just 0.9 to 1.1.
An R value between 0.9 and 1.1 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 9 and 11 other people.
The Midlands, the North East and Yorkshire and the North West have the lowest rates in England – all between 0.9 and 1.1.
