About one in seven people in England, excluding hospitals and other healthcare facilities, was infected with the coronavirus in mid-January, according to the latest extensive sampling on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The proportion corresponds to 6.9 million people or 15.3% of the population of England.
A previous survey in December found that one in nine residents was a carrier and one in 11 in November.
The percentage of operators in London in January was higher than the national average, as 21% of the capital's residents are estimated to have been infected.
A different study from the UK biobank biological data bank estimated that as of last December 8.8% of the UK population had been infected with the coronavirus at some point.
