COVID-19 in retreat in the UK, number ‘R’ under one for the first time since July

LONDON (Reuters) – The COVID-19 pandemic in Britain is returning and the “R” reproduction number, which measures transmission rates, has fallen below 1 for the first time since July, which boosts hopes that some locking restrictions could be reduced next month. .

Estimates released on Friday show that the COVID-19 “R” number for Britain is now between 0.7 and 0.9, a slight fall from last week’s estimate of 0.7 and 1.0, and dipping below one for the first time. in six months.

The incidence of COVID-19 infections in England has also been shown to fall into separate data released on Friday. The Office for National Statistics said about one in 80 people had the disease in the week ending February 6, compared with one in 65 the previous week.

England has been locked up since 5 January, with schools closed for most children. Government ministers have said that any relaxation of restrictions will depend on data over the next few weeks, with an expected announcement on Feb.22.

Rapid roll-out of British vaccines could help persuade the government to take preventative measures, despite concerns about the effectiveness of the vaccine on new strains of the virus.

More than 13 million people have been vaccinated for the first time and the government is on track to meet its target of giving the first dose to everyone in vulnerable groups by next week. .

The health ministry said on Friday it was confident that the pandemic was declining across England’s NHS regions, although it warned that the prevalence of the virus was still high and urged people to follow the rules to stay at home. house.

The number of new infections across Britain is falling by between 5% and 2% every day, he said.

With the R number estimated to be between 0.7 and 0.9, that means that every 10 people infected will progress to an infection of between 7 and 9 other people.

Government data show that, over the past seven days, the number of people being tested for COVID-19 has fallen by 29%, and that the number of deaths from the virus and patients who have been into the hospital with the virus also dropped.