(Adds details from survey)
LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - England saw an average of 27,900
new cases per day and infections are 50% higher on the previous
week, a weekly survey showed on Friday as Prime Minister Boris
Johnson bids to contain a resurgent pandemic with local
restrictions.
The Office for National Statistics' weekly infection survey
showed an estimated 336,500 people had COVID in the week to Oct
8, a 50% increase on the estimate of 224,400 infections in the
previous week.
That implies that 1 in 160 people in England had the
coronavirus that week, compared to 1 in 240 the previous week.
The ONS looks to estimate infection numbers in the community
beyond those who have been tested, giving an estimate of
prevalence that is unaffected by testing capacity.
It estimated that there were 27,900 new cases per day, well
above the 7-day daily average of around 16,000 infections
reported from test results, and up from the survey's estimate of
17,200 cases per day in the previous week.
The modelled daily estimate from University of Oxford showed
30,800 new cases as of Oct. 8.
But the survey also suggested there had been a slowdown in
the spread of the coronavirus, after it reported a doubling in
COVID cases last week.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce and Alistair Smout; editing by Kate
Holton)