SCOTLAND had the lowest Covid-19 infection rate in the UK last week, new figures suggest.
An estimated one in 80 people in private households had Covid-19 in the week ending October 30 - that's about 66,000.
This is down slightly from one in 75 the previous week, and below September’s peak of one in 45.
However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), who have published the figures, described the longer-term trend in Scotland as well as England and Wales as “uncertain”.
The infection rate in Wales at around one in 40 for the same period, has the top infection rate out of the four nations.
The figure is unchanged on the previous week and the highest since estimates began.
Around one in 50 people in England had Covid-19 in the previous week, unchanged from the previous week, according to the latest estimates.
One in 50 is the equivalent of about 1.1 million people, and is the same proportion of people who were estimated to have coronavirus at the peak of the second wave in early January.
It is also the highest level of infections since weekly ONS estimates began in July 2020.
The latest figure for Northern Ireland is one in 65, up week-on-week from one in 75 but slightly below the record high of one in 40 estimated in mid-August.
The percentage of people testing positive in Northern Ireland has “continued to increase”.
All figures are for people in private households, and do not include hospitals, care homes and other settings.
The number of infections provides a snapshot of the prevalence of Covid-19 within the entire community population of the UK.
It is based on a sample of swab tests collected from households across the UK.
Sarah Crofts, Head of Analytical Outputs for the COVID-19 Infection Survey, said:
“Today’s data show an uncertain trend in infection levels across England, Wales and Scotland in the week ending 30 October 2021. In Northern Ireland, infection levels have continued to increase."
READ MORE: More than 2,300 new cases recorded and 25 deaths in daily Covid figures update
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