Professor Tim Spector of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London has warned that Londoners’ need to be “extra vigilant” as the high streets reopen.
He warned that data shows that the number of new coronavirus cases is not coming down as quickly in London as it is in other regions in England.
Professor Spector who is behind the coronavirus symptom tracker app warned that it is not seeing levels drop and people should be vigilant in applying social distancing.
He said that over 700 new infection cases are being reported daily in London, excluding care homes and the tracker app suggests on Thursday that the R rate is below 1.
The R rate is the level of the spread of the virus, which is currently at 0.8, which is still high as other regions have far fewer cases.
Professor Spector said, “We still aren’t seeing the numbers coming down in the same way in London and the South East, where we need extra vigilance, especially with shoppers heading back to the high street and social interactions between wider family groups increasing.”
Scotland and Wales are reporting the lowest daily infection rates, whilst the North West are seeing around 742 new cases every day.
The Midlands has the highest cases with around 845 new cases each day, whilst overall figures suggest there are over 3,600 new cases across Britain each day, compared to 4,942 the previous fortnight.
The genetic epidemiologist said, “These latest figures are good news for the UK. We are seeing the R value holding stable below 1 and at the same time we are seeing the number of new cases continuing to fall across the UK.
“In most areas the rate of new population cases is less than one in ten thousand. With the changes in the regions, the gaps we were seeing just a few weeks ago are closing, particularly the North-South Divide.”
Leave a Comment