UK’s 95pc local areas see sharp decline in Covid cases Top Story April 30, 2021 LONDON: Covid-19 case rates have dropped below 50 cases per 100,000 people in more than 95 per cent of local areas of the UK, new analysis shows. It is the first time since the start of September that as many as 19 in 20 areas have seen their rates plunge below such a symbolic level. Around one in 10 areas are even recording rates in single figures. It is almost a complete turnaround from how the data looked three months ago, when the second wave of coronavirus had just peaked. In the week to January 24, only three of the 380 local areas in the UK, 1 per cent, had Covid-19 rates below 50 cases per 100,000 people. The latest figures, for the week to April 24, show the number is now 364 out of 380, or 96 per cent.