As the NHS Covid app is about to close, where are we with the virus?

By Daniel Boal, ITV News Multimedia Producer

Since September 2020, the NHS Covid app has told you which countries are safe to travel to, how close you can be to loved ones and whether you can go home for Christmas.

Now, on April 27, the app will be deactivated.

At its peak in mid-2021, more than half a million people in England were ‘pinched off’ by the NHS Covid-19 app in a single week.

And despite criticism of its cost and effectiveness, it is believed that the app could have saved many lives.

But is the pandemic really over?

German health ministers have already decided to declare the end of the pandemic. And US President Joe Biden has ended the country’s national emergency response to the virus.

But the British government has not taken an official position.

UK Covid cases

Since Covid hit the UK in early 2020, more than 500 million tests have been reported and more than nine in 10 people aged 12 and over have received at least two vaccines.

Deaths associated with Covid in the UK number over 220,000.

The latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that while the number of people suffering or dying from Covid is a far cry from what it was in 2021, hospital admissions at the end of March were on the rise.

So did the associated deaths, which were up to 619 in the week ending March 17 compared to the previous week when 605 deaths were recorded.

As of March 23, the estimated percentage of people living in private households who tested positive for coronavirus was:

• 2.66% in England (1 in 40 people)

• 2.41% in Wales (1 in 40 people)

• 1.42% in Northern Ireland (1 in 70 people)

• 2.59% in Scotland (1 in 40 people)

However, these figures are a far cry from the highs of 2021, a change which has been attributed to the vaccination program rolled out by the NHS.

recall shots

While the app may have stopped, the deployment of the covid reminder jab has not.

Millions of people are eligible for the Covid-19 spring booster as hundreds of thousands of vaccination appointments are made available to book through the NHS.

About five million in total are eligible for a recall until the end of June.

This includes people aged 75 and over, as well as anyone aged five and over with a weakened immune system, alongside the nursing home vaccination program which started two weeks ago.

Covid-19 hospital admissions remain highest among those over 75, with the rate currently standing at 34.9 admissions per 100,000 people for those aged 75-84 and 74.5 per 100,000 for people aged 85 and over.NHS Director of Vaccinations and Testing Steve Russell said: “The Covid vaccine still has a crucial role to play in protecting those most at risk of serious illness from the virus, including those whose system immune is weakened as well as all people aged 75 and over. “

And the new variants?

A new covid The subvariant responsible for a huge rise in infections in India has prompted health officials to reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing and begin mock testing exercises.

Two Indian states, Haryana and Kerala, have reintroduced mask-wearing in public due to Arcturus, a sub-variant of Omicron which has caused the biggest increase in weekly cases in seven months.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that ‘Arcturus’ – or XBB.1.16 as it is clinically called – is spreading across India.

Experts believe this new variant has the potential to be more transmissible than previous Omicron subvariants, including ‘the Kraken’ which caused a rapid increase in Covid cases in the United States earlier this year.

However, the UK Health Safety Agency says: “It is not unexpected to see new variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerging. UKHSA continues to analyze all available data relating to SARS-CoV variants -2 in the UK and overseas and is monitoring the situation closely.

“Vaccination remains our best defense against future waves of Covid-19, so it is still just as important that people come and take all the doses they are eligible for as soon as possible.”

And now?

As easy as deactivating the app, ending Covid cases is not as simple.

Thousands of people are still struggling with the virus, while others are battling the effects of the long Covid.

Covid-focused services remind us that while the peak of the pandemic may be behind us, the virus is here to stay.

According to the ONS, vaccines did reduce the impact of infections on hospitalizations and deaths, but emerging variants were much more transmissible.

The hospital admission rate and the number of deaths involving Covid are lower now than at the start of the pandemic, despite similar or higher levels of infection.

And while the government may not have officially called for an official end to the pandemic, the reduction in Covid-specific infrastructure such as testing and tracing suggests it may be heading in that direction.

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