Coronavirus R-rate remains below 1 across UK, latest figures show

The coronavirus infection rate across the UK remains below 1, the latest Government figures show.

For the UK as a whole the growth rate remains unchanged from last week at minus 4 per cent to minus 2 per cent.

The reproduction number of Covid-19 across the UK is currently 0.7 to 0.9.

This figure also remains unchanged from when the data was published by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on Friday, June 19.

A leaked Government report seen by the Huffington Post suggests that the R rate could be above 1.

The report, released by Public Health England (PHE) to health officials, said there was “uncertainty” around the figure published by the Government.

The R-value represents the average number of people an infected person passes the disease on to.

Experts have previously warned that the R estimates do not indicate how quickly an epidemic is changing.

The leaked Government report appeared to echo these warnings as it stated that uncertainty around the accuracy of the R-value means "we cannot preclude R being above 1" in England.

It added: "We believe that this is likely to be due to increasing mobility and mixing between households and in public and workplace settings.”

The growth rate reflects how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day, and, as the number of infections decreases, it is another way of keeping track of the virus.

If the growth rate is greater than zero, and therefore positive, then the disease will grow, and if the growth rate is less than zero, then the disease will shrink.

More updates to follow...

Read more

Third of virus cases not reached by NHS test and trace last week- LIVE