Weekly COVID-19 cases in England decline for first time since July

Some 6,115 new people tested positive for COVID-19 in England in the week to August 19, down 8% on the week before and showing the first decrease since the start of July, figures from the government's test and trace operation showed on Thursday. A higher total of 7,941 people were transferred to the contact tracing system in the week, in part due to an operational delay in the prior week.

Of these, 72.6% were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, compared to 79.0% in the previous week, the government said.