The South West's coronavirus growth and R rates are now some of the lowest in the UK as infections shrink across the region.
Our reproduction (R) number is likely to be between 0.8-1.0, meaning ten people with the virus will pass it on to eight to ten others.
Only North East and Yorkshire and the North West has a lower R than our region, at 0.7-0.9.
The UK's R is slightly above our area at 0.9 to 1, but this crucial number still means the virus is no longer spreading exponentially.
However, the South East, East of England and London all have a R that is between 0.9- 1.1 - meaning ten infected people could spread the virus to 11 others.
Meanwhile, our region's growth rate also remains low, and now stands at -4 to 0. This shows the virus could be shrinking by up to four per every day.
The East of England had the highest growth rate, with -1 to +2, which suggests Covid could be spreading by up to two per cent every day.
Two weeks ago, the UK's R rate fell below 1 for the first time in three months to between 0.9 and 1.0.
If the R value is above one then the Covid-19 epidemic can grow exponentially, but if it is below one it shows the outbreak is in retreat.
The latest data gives hope that Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire could soon escape the toughest category of restrictions.
These are the latest values by region, with the R number followed by the growth rate, based on data up to December 7:
- UK: 0.9-1.0, -2% to 0%
- England: 0.8-1.0, -2% to 0%
- East of England: 0.9-1.1, -1% to +2%
- London: 0.9-1.1, -1% to +1%
- South East: 0.9-1.1, -1% to +1%
- Midlands: 0.8-1.0, -3% to -1%
- South West: 0.8-1.0, -4% to 0%
- North East and Yorkshire: 0.7-0.9, -4% to -2%
- North West: 0.7-0.9, -4% to -2%
A Sage statement read: "The R estimate for England remains broadly consistent with previous weeks, at between 0.8 and 1.0.
"All NHS England regions have R estimates that are below or span 1.
"This suggests that the epidemic continues to shrink in some NHS England regions and Sage is confident that this is the case in the North West and North East and Yorkshire.
"Sage is not confident that R is currently below 1 in the East of England, London, and South East."
