hereScientists from Sage said this week's estimates are reliable and that there is "widespread growth of the epidemic across the country."Sage explained that an R number between 1.3 and 1.6 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 13 and 16 other people.A growth rate of between + 5 per cent and + 9 per cent means the number of new infections is growing daily by between 5 per cent to 9 per cent, with the most likely value towards the middle of that range.For the North West, the R rate is between 1.2 and 1.5 and the daily coronavirus growth rate is between + 4 per cent to + 8 per cent.The estimates for R and the growth rate are provided by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), a sub-group of.