Coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup

Headline figures

• The number of deaths involving COVID-19 registered in England and Wales in the week ending 26 June 2020 (Week 26) was 606 (6.7% of all deaths in that week). Analysis | Data
• The percentage of adults in Great Britain worried about the effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on their life was 69% between 25 and 28 June 2020. Analysis | Data
• The percentage of businesses that had been trading for more than the previous two weeks was 85% between 30 June and 7 July 2020 (a further 4% had restarted in the last two weeks, 11% remained temporarily closed). Analysis | Data
• The estimated number of people with COVID-19 in the community in England was 14,000 at any given time between 22 June and 5 July 2020 (1 in 3,900 of the community population). Analysis | Data
• Monthly gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 20.4% in April 2020 (the largest fall since the series began in 1997). Analysis | Data
• The average number of hours worked per week was 29.1 in February to April 2020 (the first time the average has dropped below 30 hours since the series began in 1992). Analysis | Data
• The volume of retail sales increased by 12.0% in May 2020 (sales remained 13.1% down on February 2020). Analysis | Data

This page is a summary of insights from our most recent analysis and will be updated as new publications are released.

Sign up to our email alerts for daily updates in your inbox, or view analysis by theme in our roundups of deaths and health, the economy and the social impacts of COVID-19.

This page was last updated at 14:00 on 9 July 2020.

9 July 2020

COVID-19 Infection Survey

Estimates suggest a declining number of people in the community population in England have the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Our latest estimates for 22 June and 5 July 2020 say an average of 14,000 people, excluding those in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings, in England had COVID-19.

This equated to 0.03% and around one in 3,900 people.

In the period from 22 June to 5 July 2020, there were an estimated two new COVID-19 infections for every 10,000 individuals per week in the community population in England; this equates to an estimated 1,700 new cases per day.

When analysing data for the four most recent non-overlapping 14-day periods, these estimates suggest the percentage testing positive has decreased over time since 27 April, and this downward trend appears to have now levelled off.

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9 July 2020

Levels of caring for others have risen during lockdown

More people provided help or support to people they don’t live with in April 2020 (the first full month of lockdown), compared with 2017 to 2018. At the same time, levels of poor mental health have risen across both people who provide help or support outside their household and those who do not.

This is according to the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, which looks at the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and lockdown on the UK population.

In April 2020, almost half (48%) of people in the UK said they provided help or support to someone outside their household. That’s over four times as many as during 2017 to 2018 (11%) (although the data are not directly comparable because the question asked on the two surveys was not exactly the same).

Of those providing help or support to someone outside their household, 32% were helping people who they didn’t help or support before lockdown.

Some of the people who are providing help or support are known as sandwich carers. They are helping, supporting or caring for older relatives as well as children. For sandwich carers who reported being employed through the pandemic, 17% reported working fewer hours due to childcare or informal caring responsibilities during lockdown.

The study also shows that reported levels of poor mental health have increased. This is the same whether people provide help or support for others outside their household or not.

The largest rise in levels of reported poor mental health was for women who provide help or support to people outside their household.

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9 July 2020

Safety measures increase businesses’ operating costs

Of UK businesses continuing to trade with safety measures in place, 73% reported that the implementation of such measures increased their operating costs.

According to initial results from Wave 8 of the Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS), covering the period from 15 to 28 June 2020 , most businesses said implementing safety measures had increased their costs, either substantially (11%) or a little (62%).

Almost 14% of businesses reported operating costs unchanged as a result of coronavirus safety measures, while 3% said safety measures had brought operating costs down a little.

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9 July 2020

High street footfall increases as pubs reopen

Figures from Springboard, a provider of data on customer activity, showed a moderate increase in footfall on the high street between 28 June and 5 July, from under 40% to around 50% of its level on the same time last year.

This growth was mostly led by an increase in footfall on high streets in the last two days of the week; on 4 July, pubs, hairdressers and other hospitality businesses in England and Northern Ireland were allowed to open for the first time since March, while adhering to social distancing measures and other safety guidance.

Footfall in shopping centres increased slightly.

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8 July 2020

Homeworking in April 2020

Nearly half (46.6%) of people aged over 16 in employment in the UK did some work from home in April 2020, with 86.0% of those who worked from home doing so because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Women were slightly more likely to work from home than men, and workers aged 25 to 34 years were most likely to work from home at 54.3%. Regionally, workers living in London were most likely to work from home at 57.2%.

Data from 2019 (before the pandemic) showed that less than 30% of the workforce had ever worked from home in their current job, although these figures are taken from a different source so are not directly comparable.

The April figures are the first experimental statistics from our new online Labour Market Survey (LMS) launched at the end of March 2020, a survey of around 18,000 households per quarter.

The LMS is designed to collect similar data to our Labour Force Survey (LFS), but mainly online rather than over the phone or face-to-face interviews. The LFS remains the official source of our headline labour market statistics.

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8 July 2020

Labour market, businesses and trade

The latest Economic review includes three articles analysing the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the labour market, businesses and trade.

Early insights of how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted the labour market provides additional analysis on the labour market figures to what was covered in the Labour market overview for June 2020.

The ratio of unemployment to vacancies increased between January and April 2020, indicating growing imbalance between labour supply and labour demand; the increase was driven more by falling demand for labour than by increasing supply.

Business closures and restrictions to non-essential travel caused labour demand to fall, with a large decrease to the number of vacancies.

Insights of the Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey: Wave 2 to Wave 7 provides insights to show how businesses and the economy have evolved so far in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fewer businesses are reporting lower-than-normal levels of turnover in the latest fortnightly wave than at the height of restrictions in place in April and May. More businesses have reported a pickup in turnover levels in the most recent two-week period, 1 June to 14 June 2020.

The proportion of businesses’ workforce size that has been furloughed has remained fairly stable, with a slight drop in the most recent fortnight.

Impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on UK trade provides additional analysis on the figures for UK trade: April 2020 of both goods and services, which saw notable falls in both exports and imports in the three months to April 2020.

The largest impacts to exporting and importing of businesses were seen in transportation and storage, retail and wholesale, and manufacturing industries, with the biggest challenges faced by businesses being coronavirus-related transport restrictions and increased transportation costs.

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7 July 2020

Deaths involving COVID-19

Up to 26 June 2020, there were 50,000 deaths registered in England and Wales involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) (27,533 men and 22,467 women).

The majority of deaths involving COVID-19 have been among people aged 65 years and over (44,665 out of 50,000).

Our data are based on deaths registered in England and Wales and include all deaths where “COVID-19” was mentioned on death certificates. We have published a summary of where you can find data on COVID-19 infection rates and deaths for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The total number of deaths in the week ending 26 June 2020 (Week 26) was 8,979, the lowest of the year to date and below the five-year average for the second week running.

Private homes was the only setting to record any excess deaths (deaths above the five-year average). Care homes, hospitals and other communal establishments recorded fewer deaths than the average for this time of year.

Deaths were below the five-year average in all settings apart from private homes in the week ending 26 June 2020

Number of excess deaths by place of death between Week 11 and Week 26 of 2020, England and Wales

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7 July 2020

Characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19

Emerging evidence suggests that infection rates for COVID-19 are lower in two-person households than in larger households.

Our analysis looks at the potential risk factors associated with those who have ever tested positive for COVID-19 during the period 26 April to 27 June 2020.

It examines whether there is any evidence of differences in infection rates for the following characteristics:

• age, sex and ethnicity
• among workers
• household size
• symptoms
• those who had contact with others.

There are many factors that could drive differences in the number of people ever testing positive for COVID-19 by household size.

These include secondary transmission of infection within households, different household structures and households having different contact patterns with people outside of the household.

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7 July 2020

Labour productivity

In Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2020, the UK’s headline measure of labour productivity, output per hour, fell by 0.6% compared with the same quarter a year ago. However, output per worker fell by 3.1% over the same period, reflecting the impact of “furlough” schemes that significantly reduced the number of hours worked, while the number of workers in the economy remained more stable.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced employers and staff to adjust to new working schedules and arrangements, such as working from home, which can affect productivity in different ways.

While output per hour and output per worker are usually closely aligned, we found the government’s furlough scheme has caused employment to stay in line with pre-pandemic levels, whereas hours worked has fallen.

Meanwhile, another measure of productivity, multi-factor productivity, is estimated to have decreased by 2.6% compared with the same quarter a year ago, the lowest growth rate in 11 years. Multi-factor productivity is a measure that takes into account changes to equipment like machinery and software, as well as changes in the characteristics of the labour market. It does not cover the public sector.

While these productivity figures only cover the first week or so of lockdown measures being introduced, we expect further impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on labour market productivity to be revealed in data for the following quarter.

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6 July 2020

Map of over 70s living with younger people

More than 85% of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 19 June 2020 that mentioned the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the death certificate are for someone aged 70 years or over.

While people in this age group can socially distance to avoid infection, those who live in households with people who are of working age or children may face a greater challenge as parts of the UK emerge from lockdown at different paces.

This challenge to protect more vulnerable members of the households from COVID-19, such as those aged 70 years and older, may become more difficult as younger household members return to work and resume their studies.

Find out how many households in your local area contain people aged 70 years or older living with those aged 60 years or under

Percentage and number of households in a Lower layer Super Output Area (LSOA) where there is someone over 70 years living with someone aged 60 years or under, England and Wales

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3 July 2020

Postponed weddings

An estimated 73,600 weddings and same-sex civil partnership ceremonies may have been postponed in England during the three-month period of lockdown restrictions between 23 March and 3 July 2020.

From 4 July, weddings in England will be able to take place with a maximum of 30 people who must maintain social distancing measures, avoid singing unless behind a screen, avoid consuming food or drink and avoid playing instruments that must be blown into.

These figures are the four-year average of the number of weddings that took place between 23 March and 3 July 2014 to 2017, plus the number of same-sex civil partnerships between the same dates in 2015 to 2018. They do not include residents who got married abroad, same-sex couples who have converted their civil partnerships into marriages following the changes in law from 10th December 2014, or civil partnerships among opposite-sex couples which have been possible from 31 December 2019.

It is estimated that 73,400 marriages have been postponed along with 300 same-sex civil partnerships (numbers have been rounded to nearest hundred).

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3 July 2020

Infections in care homes

A new study looking at the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in 9,081 care homes providing dementia care or care for older people estimates that more than half of care homes (56%) reported at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 in staff or residents. It is estimated that 20% (95% confidence interval: 19% to 21%) of care home residents and 7% (95% confidence interval: 6% to 8%) of care home staff tested positive for COVID-19, as reported by care home managers, since the start of the pandemic.

The study looked at factors affecting the rate of infection in residents and staff. For residents, we found:

• for each additional member of infected staff working at the care home, the odds of infection for residents increases by 11% (95% confidence interval: 10% to 11%)

• care homes using bank or agency nurses or carers most days or every day are more likely to have more cases in residents (odds ratio 1.58, 95% confidence interval: 1.50 to 1.65), compared with care homes that never use bank or agency staff

• care homes in which staff receive sick pay are less likely to have cases of COVID-19 in residents (odds ratio 0.87, 95% confidence interval: 0.82 to 0.93%), compared with those care homes where staff do not receive sick pay

The study also reports factors affecting the rate of infection in staff.

For each additional member of infected staff working at a care home, the chance of infection for residents increases by 11%

Odds of care home residents testing positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) relative to comparison groups, England, 26 May to 20 June 2020

Notes:

1. Estimated odds ratios are adjusted for care home size, closure status for new resident admissions, timing of closure to visitors, use of other bank or agency staff, Index of Multiple Deprivation, number of care homes in provider group, whether the care home pays sick pay, care home cleaning level, staff training level, PPE usage, and frequency of staff caring for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 residents.

The study managed to conduct telephone interviews with 5,126 care home managers of 9,081 approached, all with responsibility for providing dementia care or care for the elderly between 26 May and 20 June 2020. The survey gathered information on their staff and residents and each setting.

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3 July 2020

Care home resident deaths

Almost a third of care home resident deaths since the beginning of March 2020 have involved the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Between 2 March and 12 June 2020 (registered up to 20 June 2020), there were 66, 112 deaths of care home residents, of which 19,394 involved COVID-19. This represents 29.3% of all care home resident deaths.

Between 2 March and 12 June 2020, registered up to the 20 June 2020, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in male care home residents, accounting for 33.5% of all deaths, and the second leading cause of death in female care home residents, after Dementia and Alzheimer disease, accounting for 26.6% of all deaths.

Of deaths involving COVID-19 among care home residents, 74.9% (14,519 deaths) occurred within a care home, and 24.8% (4,810 deaths) occurred within a hospital.

But since mid-April 2020, we have seen a slowdown in both the total number of deaths and deaths involving COVID-19 in care home residents.

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3 July 2020

Workers in Great Britain gradually return to work

Great Britain appears to be learning to live with a ‘new normal’ following the easing of lockdown restrictions.

The proportion of working adults returning to their workplace has been increasing slightly over the past few weeks, from 41% two weeks ago, to 44% last week and 49% in the past seven days.

Almost a third of adults (29%) who had worked in the last seven days said they had done so exclusively at home – a decrease from 33% last week.

In tandem with the increase in returnees to the workplace, there appears to have been an improvement in wellbeing in the UK.

Of those saying their well-being has been affected, the proportion of people feeling stressed or anxious has fallen from to 55% compared with 66% last week. The proportion of people who reported that they were feeling bored, declined from 60% to 45%.

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3 July 2020

Impact on financial accounts

The early assessment of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the UK’s financial accounts article focuses on the balance sheet of the financial account in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2020.

Most of the early impacts of the pandemic can be seen in the financial accounts balance sheets, which detail the estimated market value of institutional sectors’ financial assets and liabilities. Balance sheets are largely affected by transactions and price changes.

Increased investor concerns of the coronavirus pandemic led to increased market volatility, and this was the main driver in all sectors’ steep, unprecedented falls in the value of listed shares in their balance sheets. This was the biggest fall since records began in 1987.

Private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) were vulnerable to falling share prices because they comprise of sectors that were most negatively impacted by lockdown restrictions in the UK and overseas, such as airlines, leisure and hotels. The substantial change in the market value of shares is almost entirely because of price changes that knocked £401 billion off the worth of PNFCs’ listed shares.

In Quarter 1 2020, the impact of the pandemic has been different to other financial crises in the sense that there has been a reduction in both supply and demand.

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User requested data

We have been responding to data requests from the public, media and government during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Responses are published in our list of user requested data.

Our subnational data page offers advice to anyone doing their own analysis on the impact of the coronavirus. It contains useful links to geographic boundaries and datasets such as population by local area.

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