interpretation of the daily case numbers at the stage for reasons i will set out shortly, we can see from these and hospital data some early indications that the situation might be starting to improve. 0ver might be starting to improve. over the past week, an average ofjust over 12,700 new cases a day workings confirmed through pcr tests. however, this is down by 17% compared to the daily average in the preceding seven days. indeed, on this measure, cases have fallen in the past week across all age groups except the over 65 is. over 85, my apologies. this is encouraging and it does give us hope that cases may be at or close to the peak. however as i said, caution is required in interpreting these figures. the changes to the guidance on testing are set out last week to the effect that those without symptoms testing positive with a lateral flow device no longer need to get a confirmation pcr test mean that the current daily numbers are capturing fewer positive cases than before. to address this,