1 in 15 people in London likely has covid

Associated Press | Friday, December 31, 2021 12:44 p.m.

People ride in a bike taxi Thursday near Leicester Square in London.

LONDON — New figures from Britain’s official statistics body estimate that about 1 in 25 people in private households in England had covid-19 in the week before Christmas, as the highly transmissible omicron variant spread rapidly across the country.

The figure was even higher in London, the British capital, where officials said around 1 in 15 people was likely to test positive for the coronavirus in the week to Dec. 23.

The number in all of England jumped from 1 in 45 in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said Friday.

One in 25 is the equivalent of about 2 million people with coronavirus in England, the highest number since the statistics body began estimating infection levels in May 2020.