Just one in 55 people had Covid-19 last week, according to the latest official data - but two new Omicron variants are now officially "variants of concern".
The figures come from the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey - suggesting that just over a million people around England will have had Covid in the week to May 13. In the North East, just 1.9% of people tested positive over the week.
However, public health bosses at the UK Health Security Agency have identified two new subvariants of Omicron - BA.4 and BA.5 - and both of these are now "of concern". The UKHSA first detected BA.4 in April - and as of May 17 there had been 115 cases discovered around the UK. More than 100 of those are in England, with most cases in London, South East and West Midlands.
Read more: Urgent hunt under way for source of current monkeypox outbreak now largest ever seen in Europe
BA.5 was also first detected in early April and there have now been a total of 80 cases of it identified since then. Again, most are in the South East and South West of England.
This comes as headline data shows Covid-19 cases have plummeted in recent weeks. Even comparing to the beginning of April when mass testing stopped, the ONS's figures show a substantial fall - back then around one in 13 people had had the virus.
Hospitalisations due to Covid-19 have also fallen in recent weeks, but as per the UKHSA's latest surveillance report, the North East is the region with the highest level of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19. There were 10.04 people per 100,000 admitted in the region. Six weeks ago, the figure was three times as high.
Dr Mary Ramsay, director of clinical programmes at the UKHSA said: "Whilst Covid-19 hospital admissions continue to decline it is important that we do not become complacent. If you've yet to take up the offer of a vaccine or have missed your latest jab please come forward now."
The new subvariants are thought to have been previously prevalent in South Africa - and experts think they could have a "growth advantage" compared to the still dominant BA.2 strain. This could see the new variants become the most common. Dr Meera Chand, UKHSA director of clinical and emerging infections, said the impact of the new mutations was still "uncertain" and that "further detailed studies" are ongoing.
READ NEXT:
