LONDON (AP) — Researchers at Imperial College estimate that 6% of England’s population — or 3.4 million people — have been infected by COVID-19, a figure far higher than previous findings.
The estimate is based on a study of 100,000 randomly selected volunteers who used home finger-prick tests to find antibodies for the virus that causes COVID-19.
The study, which covers infections through the end of June, found that London had the highest infection rate at 13%. Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups were two to three times more likely to have had COVID-19 than white people.
The nationwide estimate is much higher than the number of reported cases posted by Johns Hopkins University, the main reference for monitoring the disease. As of Thursday, it listed 270,971 cases throughout England.
