It’s unclear exactly what is driving the decline in cases across England. Scientists believe an 8 per cent fall in tests being carried out could be ‘partly’ behind the drop.

But others say it is likely to be a combination of factors, including the heatwave driving people outdoors as well as the virus running out of people to infect due to increasing immunity from the vaccine rollout and recent spike in infections…

But cases in all regions are now falling because of surging immunity levels thanks to previous infections and the successful vaccination drive which has at least one dose to almost 90 per cent of Britons.

Across England infections fell by 18 per cent in the week to July 20, dropping from 42,000 a day to less than 35,000 a day.