More than 618,000 people had coronavirus in community settings in England last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
The estimated total, which covers 25 to 31 October, equates to around one in 90 people in the population.
New infections in England stabilised at around 50,000 a day, suggesting a levelling off in a recent steep rise in cases.
Sky News economic editor Ed Conway said it was “good news” as “COVID-19 infections across England seem to have stabilised”.
“Still early days (the modelling has given us some false hope before) but this is perhaps the most promising sign yet of a slowdown in new infections,” Conway said.
The ONS data refers to COVID-19 infections in the community, meaning private residential households, and does not include people with the virus in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings.