There has been a slight increase in the South West's R rate almost two weeks after pupils returned to school.
Our region's reproductive number is now between 0.6 and 0.9 - up from last Friday's 0.5 to 0.8.
This means on average every 10 people with Covid will infect between six to nine others.
Experts warned the R rate would rise once schools reopened, but they said this increase had been calculated into the provisional roadmap, and should not impact restrictions being lifted.
The South West has the joint-lowest R rate along with London, the Midlands and east of England.
Our growth rate has also risen from between -10 to -6 per cent, to -8 to -3 per cent.
This means the virus is now shrinking between eight to three per cent a day, compared to 10 to six per cent a day last week.
Our growth rate remains the lowest in the country. England's is now between -6 to -2 per cent a day.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference yesterday (March 18), England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said Covid was still a "common disease" that was "dangerous" for many people.
The latest figures released yesterday showed a further 6,303 people tested positive for the virus - down slightly from the 6,753 last Thursday and much lower than the 12,057 a month ago.
It was announced on Thursday that there are no Covid patients in critical care in Gloucestershire's hospitals for the first time in five months.
And Bristol's Covid hospital admissions have now dipped to below 80, while Somerset and Bath's Covid patients have dropped to below 30.
