Coronavirus rates have fallen in most regions of England and across all age groups apart from the over-80s.
The news is a sign that lockdown measures are having an effect.
The East Midlands, eastern England, north-east England, south-east England and Yorkshire & the Humber have all recorded a week-on-week fall.
But the rate did increase in north-west England, south-west England and the West Midlands.
The Public Health England data shows that although London continues to have the highest rate of any region, its rate of new cases stood at 864.9 per 100,000 people in the seven days to January 10, down from 1,043.9 in the previous week.
There is a similar pattern in other areas.
Despite the positive news, the PHE surveillance report said more people were being admitted to hospitals and intensive care units.
And the time lag between a fall in cases and an impact on the death toll means high death totals are likely to be reported for some time.
In a move that makes that starkly clear, a new temporary mortuary that can hold up to 1,300 bodies has been built in London.
The Government’s leading scientist Sir Patrick Vallance has also warned that high death numbers will “carry on for some weeks”.
Professor Neil Ferguson, whose early modelling of Covid-19 made him a crucial player in the UK’s first lockdown, said: “We’re going to be well over 1,000 deaths a day, even measured by the date people die rather than the date deaths are reported, before numbers start coming down.”
However, he said the current wave of the epidemic may be coming under control in some regions.
It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock said three million coronavirus vaccine doses have now been administered across the UK.
He tweeted that he was “delighted” with the news, adding: “We’re accelerating the Covid vaccine rollout across the UK.”
In addition, some large high street pharmacies, including Boots and Superdrug, have begun the process of administering vaccines.
Six stores across England were in the first group to administer the jabs from Thursday.
The Government is aiming to hit its target of vaccinating around 15 million of those most at-risk by mid-February.
A regional breakdown of vaccination figures in England, up to January 10, showed a mixed performance.
A total of 447,329 doses were administered in the Midlands.
However, London has delivered just 237,524 doses.
The capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “hugely concerned”.
The NHS England figures indicate about half of people aged 80 and over in north east England and Yorkshire have received their first dose but just three-in-10 in eastern England and London.
-- to www.walesonline.co.uk
