The Coronavirus R number and the virus growth rate in the UK may be incresing, government scientists warned today. SAGE scientists have seen indications that the crucial figure, which tracks how many people on average are infected by each person with Covid-19, is increasing.
The official figure in England remained the same as last week - between 0.9 and 1.1. And the growth rate for the whole UK is now between -2% to +1% - which means the number of new infections is somewhere between growing by 1% or shrinking by 2% every day.
That's an increase from the previous estimate published last week, which was between -3% and +1%. In a statement announcing the new figures, the Government Office for Science said: "We have been seeing indications