Coronavirus infections continue to fall in England but no longer at the sharp rate seen in early February, according to new data from REACT.
The study – the largest programme of home coronavirus testing – tested over 163,500 people across the country between the 4th and 23rd February, finding that around 1 in 204 people are currently infected, or 0.49% of the population.
This is a fall of more than two-thirds since January when 1 in 64 was infected (1.57%), and a similar prevalence to the study’s recent interim findings when about 1 in 200 people had the virus, or 0.51% as of 13th February, meaning the rate of decline has slowed.
The researchers from Imperial College London found that the reproduction number (R) was 0.86 at the national level, which means that the epidemic is still shrinking as each infected person passes the virus on to fewer than one other on average. However, there are variations across the country and the study has picked up a suggestion that infections are rising again in London, the South East and the Midlands.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme from Imperial’s School of Public Health, said: “The fall in infections our study has observed since January demonstrates that national public health measures are working. But these new findings showing that some areas are experiencing apparent growth reinforce the need for everyone to continue to stick to the rules and help keep infections down. At this critical time, with lockdown soon to be eased, we need to make sure that our behaviours don’t risk a rise in infections which could prolong restrictions, which we all want to avoid.”
