The number of people in England who are susceptible to Covid is one of the lowest in Europe, analysis has shown.

Modellers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LHSTM) ran a hypothesis in which everyone was exposed to the virus at the same time to determine how many people in different countries are at risk of hospitalisation or death.

Figures for 19 nations were available, allowing for comparable analysis that factored in vaccination levels and infection rates.

In the research – carried out before the emergence of the omicron variant – academics found England has around 73,000 people at risk of hospitalisation and roughly 15,000 at risk of dying, equivalent to 130 hospitalisations and 27 deaths per 100,000 people.

Only Hungary, at 106, has a smaller proportion of people at risk of hospitalisation, while just Denmark, at 24 per 100,000, has a smaller ratio of people vulnerable to death from Covid.

Romania has the highest number in danger of hospitalisation because of its low vaccination rates, while France (149 per 100,000), Germany (322) and Italy (163) all have a bigger proportion than England. 

Germany has more than twice as big a population at risk of dying than England (65 per 100,000). France (33), Spain (29) and Italy (36) also have bigger susceptible populations.