Over the last couple of years, the global Covid-19 pandemic has interfered with lives, changing the ways that billions of people around the world go about their daily business - in fear of the widespread virus.
And it is two years ago to the day that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, as a 'Public Health Emergency' - as it began to spread internationally.
Coronavirus was first detected on British shores a day earlier (29 January), with the UK’s first two patients testing positive after two Chinese nationals from the same family visiting a York hotel fell ill.
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Just one week earlier (22 January), Public Health England announced an altering of the British public's risk level from ‘very low’ to ‘low’.
Since the initial Alpha wave that led to a national UK lockdown on March 23, 2020, the UK has subsequently suffered four further waves of infection - and a variety of other variants coming with them - from the Delta, to the most recent Omicron 'stealth' strain.
We have reflected on the facts and figures relating to Covid-19 over the past two years - identifying tragic death tolls, alarming rates of infection, and promising vaccination numbers as the UK learns to live with the virus since dropping restrictions this month.
Infections and hospitalisations:
As of the most recent statistics, the United Kingdom alone has saw 16.4M reported cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
A grand total of 622,156 infections have been reported in the last seven days alone across the board, with a daily case rate as it stands of 72,727.
Latest data provided by the Government on 24 January, shows a daily hospital admission figure of 1,732 - with 12,223 patients admitted within the seven days leading up.
However, despite high figures, hospitalisations are on the decrease - down by 2,062 from the seven day period before that.
Collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, the UK has seen 690,563 hospitalisations with regards to Covid-19 - with 16,149 patients still in hospital of Thursday 27 January. 549 of whom are on ventilation units as of the same data.
Deaths:
Globally, with regards to Coronavirus - an estimated number of 5.66M deaths have taken place thus far according to figures from Our World in Data.
The United States of America bolsters the highest figures with regards to deaths, with a tragic 898,680 recorded according to Statista, with Vanuatu, Western Sahara and Montserrat having the lowest figures with one death each respectively.
The latest statistics from Government officials show that there have been a recorded number of 155,613 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in the United Kingdom - with 296 reported yesterday alone.
As of 14 January 2022, the number of Covid-19 based death certificates issued across the UK stood at 176,813.
Testing:
Reportedly, 443,980,077 tests have been conducted across the UK according to Gov.uk's latest statistics, with 1,285,156 carried out daily.
The PCR testing capacity across British laboratories remains at 1,020,846 taken from the same data, growing substantially from an initial figure of 26,557 in April 2020.
The data released shows the number of confirmed positive, negative or void COVID-19 virus test results, and is a count of test results which may include more than one test per person.
Vaccination:
Across the UK as it stands, 52,313,949 have received their first dose, 48,347,597 have had a second dose, and 37,211,022 have received a third or booster dose.
With regards to percentage of population, 91 per cent have received their first dose, 84.1 per cent their second, and just 64.7 per cent having their third.
In terms of daily dosages given, statistics from 28 January showed that 16,370 received their first dose, 32,964 their second, and 53,124 their third - showing a willingness to still come forward and be vaccinated.
North East figures from Government Covid-19 Website :
Newcastle upon Tyne -
Infection: 82,884 total cases of Coronavirus
Hospitalisations: 4,204 hospitalisations in total
Deaths within 28 days of a positive test: 547
Testing: 1,981,318 tests conducted
Vaccination: 148,774 have received a booster or third dose
South Tyneside and Sunderland -
Infection: 77,659 total cases of Coronavirus
Hospitalisations: 5,736 hospitalisations in total
Deaths within 28 days of a positive test: 956
Testing: 1,832,273 tests conducted
Vaccination: 156,699 have received a booster or third dose
North Tyneside -
Infection: 59,659 total cases of Coronavirus
Hospitalisations: N/A
Deaths within 28 days of a positive test: 530
Testing: 1,551,712 tests conducted
Vaccination: 123,166 have received a booster or third dose
Gateshead -
Infection: 54,880 total cases of Coronavirus
Hospitalisations: 2,767 hospitalisations in total
Deaths within 28 days of a positive test: 540
Testing: 1,331,178 tests conducted
Vaccination: 109,947 have received a booster or third dose
Northumberland -
Infection: 80,253 total cases of Coronavirus
Hospitalisations: 418 hospitalisations (Cumbria) 4,664 (Northumbria) in total
Deaths within 28 days of a positive test: 874
Testing: 2,419,992 tests conducted
Vaccination: 207,883 have received a booster or third dose
County Durham -
Infection: 141,548 total cases of Coronavirus
Hospitalisations: 7,540 hospitalisations in total
Deaths within 28 days of a positive test: 1,574
Testing: 4,140,572 tests conducted
Vaccination: 312,713 have received a booster or third dose
