The coronavirus pandemic appears to be shrinking less quickly with the reproduction “R” number now estimated to be between 0.6 and 0.9 in both the UK and London.
R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.
This week’s figures, revealed by the Government on Friday, compares to between 0.6 and 0.8 both across the country and the capital last week.
An R value between 0.6 and 0.9 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between six and nine other people.
The daily growth rate of infections was estimated at between -6 per cent and -3 per cent, compared to -7 per cent and -4 per cent last week.
It comes after data from the Office of National Statistics revealed prevalence of Covid-19 infections in England has fallen again, with 1 in 340 people infected in the week ending March 13.
In London, the infection rate is no estimated to be around one in 500.
Separate figures published on Friday suggest that secondary students returning to school has led to less infections than expected.
Secondary school pupils took 2,762,775 lateral flow tests covering a period between March 4-10. However, just 1,324 were positive, The Telegraph reports.
Professor Jon Deeks - an expert in biostatistics at Birmingham University - found that the number of positive cases among pupils was far lower than the Government had expected.
“If the reason is that there aren’t many cases, then this is good news. But if the reason is that the tests are missing cases this is bad news,” he said.
Officials figures also show a new London low in the seven-day Covid rate as the second wave declines with Hackney seeing 16.5 confirmed new infections per 100,000 people in the week to March 13.
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