The number of people with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection in England has halved since 2015, latest figures show.
A report on HCV found that in 2022 there were 62,600 people over 16 living with HCV, a 51% drop from 129,400 seven years previously.
The decline has been driven by better testing and improved access to treatment.
Opt-out bloodborne virus testing programme in emergency departments has also made a difference the report found. In December the Government announced that would be rolled out to more hospitals around the country.
Deaths from HCV are also at their lowest levels in a decade, the UK Health Security Agency said.
Modelling suggests that of those in England who are still infected with HCV, almost 65% are former drug users who are no longer injecting.
The prevalence of chronic HCV among people who inject drugs has fallen substantially in recent years. In addition, the proportion of people who have cleared a previous infection has almost doubled, from 23.0% in 2015 to 41.6% in 2022.
More needs to be done to prevent new and reinfections, including provision of safe injecting equipment, the report concluded.
But there is also an estimated 9,600 people with chronic HCV infection who have never injected drugs, the report said.
To help detect remaining undiagnosed cases, last year NHS England launched a website for people to order at-home self-testing kits. To date more than 16,000 kits have been sent out.
Dr Monica Desai, Hepatitis C lead at UKHSA, said: ‘Hepatitis C elimination is in reach if we can accelerate testing, support people to access effective treatment, reduce the stigma experienced by people living with hepatitis C and prevent people getting the infection in the first place – particularly for people who inject drugs.’
John Stewart, national director for specialised commissioning at NHS England said: ‘This data proves that our ambitions are within reach, as we work to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat ahead of the 2030 WHO commitment.’
Rachel Halford, CEO of The Hepatitis C Trust, said the progress made towards elimination was nothing short of astounding.
‘Moving forward we need to develop a national strategy which will ensure we reach elimination, and maintain this over the long term. This will require clear goals, strong disease surveillance, and a balanced approach to tackling the virus.’
