Britain’s Covid deaths fall by 42% with just 22 more victims added to official tally – while cases drop by 4% to 2,396 even though MORE testing is being carried out

• 107,622 first vaccine doses were dished out yesterday, taking the total number to have had a jab to 33.1million
• Some 350,027 adults were given their top-up jab — with one in five adults now fully vaccinated against Covid
• Real-world data suggested just 32 people were hospitalised with Covid three weeks after getting a vaccine

Covid deaths have fallen by more than 40 per cent over the last week — down to just 22 victims today, according to Department of Health data.

Cases are also continuing to fall despite more testing being carried out. Another 2,396 infections were recorded today — a fall of 3.8 per cent from last Wednesday’s figure of 2,491.

And 107,622 first vaccine doses were also dished out yesterday, with 33.1million now jabbed. Some 350,027 adults were given their top-up jab — with one in five adults now fully inoculated.

The figures comes after ‘extraordinary’ real-world data suggested just 32 people in the UK were hospitalised with Covid three weeks after getting a vaccine.

Figures due to be handed to No10’s advisers show inoculated people made up a tiny fraction of the thousands of admissions for the virus in recent months.

The research by the UK Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium looked at more than 74,000 hospital admissions between September and early March. Some 2,000 were jabbed in total — all but 32 of them caught the virus before their jab had time to kick in.

Just 32 people in the UK were hospitalised with Covid three weeks after getting a vaccine, according to ‘extraordinary’ real-world data. 

Figures due to be handed to Government advisers today show inoculated people made up a tiny fraction of the thousands of admissions for the virus in recent months.

The research by the UK Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium looked at more than 74,000 hospital admissions between September and early March. Some 2,000 were jabbed in total — all but 32 of them caught the virus before their jab had time to kick in.

Scientists said the finding was proof the jabs are performing ‘extraordinarily well’ at squashing Covid hospitalisations and deaths.

The number of Covid tests performed in the UK yesterday rose slightly to 730,210 — an increase of 14.9 per cent over the last six days. 

The positivity rate fell to 0.3 per cent of tests coming back positive. Deaths numbers were their lowest on a Wednesday since September 16. 

Only one in 380 local authorities in England now has an infection rate of more than 100 in 100,000 people.

Scientists said the findings suggesting only 32 vaccinated people were admitted to hospital after three weeks was proof the jabs are performing ‘extraordinarily well’ at squashing Covid hospitalisations and deaths.

Covid vaccines did not start to be rolled out in Britain until December, when the Pfizer jab was given approval. 

Fewer than 2,000 Covid patients are now being treated by the NHS — down from a peak of almost 40,000 at the January peak. Admissions have dropped to below 200 a day.

The statistics will raise more questions about why Britain is still living under tough lockdown restrictions, given that 33million people have now been jabbed.

Boris Johnson is under growing pressure to speed up his roadmap out of lockdown, with the next relaxation not due until May 17, when pubs and restaurants will open and foreign travel is earmarked to resume.  

But the PM told a Downing St press conference yesterday that while the vaccination programme was ‘making a big difference’, he would not deviate from his ‘cautious but irreversible’ plan.

Quizzed about why No10 has not published data on the jabs’ effect on hospital and death rates, Mr Johnson said ‘we simply don’t know that data’, but added that he ‘suspected the number was very small’.

The research looked at 74,405 Covid patients treated in hospital between September and March. A total of 2,000 the patients had been jabbed.

But the analysis discounted admissions of people who had caught the virus within three weeks of being vaccinated – because that’s roughly how long it takes for immunity to kick in.

There are 192 daily coronavirus hospital admissions across the entire UK, according to the most recent figures, down from a peak of 4,500 in January

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