Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Can we see the vaccine effect?

(Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivia/AFP via Getty Images)

Britain’s Covid data is moving in the right direction. Today’s update from the Office for National Statistics confirms this on one of the most critical measures: excess deaths. For the second consecutive week, deaths in England and Wales are below the five-year average. In the latest week ending 19 March, there were 10,311 registered deaths — 676 fewer deaths than the week before and down 8 per cent on the average.

The good news doesn’t stop there. Not only are deaths down (more than 90 per cent below the peak of the latest wave) but the vaccine factor is also showing its effect. According to the ONS’s latest antibody survey, 55 per cent of people in England — that is, one in two residents — were estimated to have antibodies in the 28 days leading up to the 14 March.

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