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A coronavirus tracking app has suggested that the disease was sweeping the UK in January, long before the first cases were detected.
The COVID symptom tracker, designed by scientists at King’s College London, asks its 2.6 million users to report their symptoms daily, even if they’re OK, to map the spread of the disease.
However, hundreds of taxpayers also admitted to having suffered from Covid-like symptoms shortly after the new year, with some even saying they thought they had the disease in late December, King’s Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and the scientist working at the app, Tim Spector, has said.
Although the cases have not been proven, shocking reports suggest the virus became established in the UK long before the first case on British soil was identified on January 31, when two Chinese in York tested positive for the virus.
The app’s data has also suggested that the blocking measures have worked, and the estimated cases fell more than 80 percent to 354,690 today from a peak of 2.1 million on April 1.
Technology including apps like this is expected to bring the UK back to normal.
NHS Digital is working on its own contact tracking application that will alert users when they have been around a person who has later developed symptoms of the disease.
The app will need 60 percent of the population, or 40 million people, to download it to be effective.
The app has estimated there are 354,690 cases of coronavirus in the UK today, based on data from 2.6 million users, a drop of more than 80 percent since April 1.
Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London said “hundreds” of users have reported suffering from Covid-like symptoms in early January and some in December.
Professor Spector said, reports the Sunday Times: “The reports I receive are from people who were ill from the beginning of January onwards and strongly suggest that they had Covid-19 but were not recognized as such.”
‘What is impressive is the sheer volume of reports. We are getting hundreds of people using our app telling us they developed something shortly after the new year. ‘
Britain’s official coronavirus case count did not rise above 100 until March 6, and did not reach 1,000 until March 14. The current case count is 148,377, well below the application estimate of 354,690.
Users should report their condition to the application, developed by the London-based firm ZOE Global, every day.
They are first asked if they have been tested for Covid-19, followed by whether they are not feeling well. Those who say they are not feeling well are asked to enter their symptoms, which include fever, cough, headache, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell, and hoarse voice.
The data collected, including geographic location, is analyzed to produce an estimate of the number of coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom.
He identified four critical spots for the virus in Pendle and Hyndburn, Lancaster, Nuneaton, outside Coventry, and Blaenau Gwent, Wales, where he estimates that 2 to 3 percent of people have the virus.
No critical points have been identified in London, at the epicenter of the UK outbreak.
The research is supported by the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Surgeons along with other medicinal bodies.
The app estimates that the number of coronavirus patients peaked on April 1 before significantly decreasing during blocking
The COVID Symptom Tracker works by taking people through a questionnaire about how they feel and if they have typical coronavirus symptoms.
The investigation could mean that the first UK cases could include Daren Bland, 50, of Maresfield, East Sussex, who visited the Ischgl complex in Austria from January 15 to 19.
It is understood that he joined three friends for a vacation on the slopes before hiring Covid-19 and taking him home with his wife and children.
The ski resort has been dubbed a “breeding ground” for the coronavirus in Germany after being connected to hundreds of identified cases in Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Austria and Germany.
British businessman Steve Walsh detected the virus between 20 and 23 January at a conference in Grand Hyatt, Singapore, before returning to the UK and unknowingly infecting it with at least 11 other Brits.
Many others also reported experiencing Covid-like symptoms, but their cases were never confirmed due to limited testing capacity in the UK.
A study from Oxford University published last month claimed that the virus was spreading in the UK for a month before it was first identified.
Scientists modeled cases of coronavirus to estimate that it was spreading in the UK in mid-January at the latest.
There were around 17 direct flights between Wuhan and the UK between the New Year and January 24 alone, along with many to and from Italy.
An Italian study estimated that the coronavirus was circulating in Lombardy more than a month before it was officially identified on February 21 in Codogno.
The data suggests that patients like Daren Bland, 50, of East Sussex, should be among the first cases of coronavirus. He suffered coronavirus-like symptoms after a trip from January 15 to 19. Steve Walsh contracted the virus in Singapore on January 20-23.
The number of deaths from coronavirus in the UK increased by 813 yesterday, the sixth highest daily increase since the pandemic began. The number of infections increased by 4,913
The enforcement of NHS England has been heralded as capable of allowing ministers to lift the strict blocking rules that detain Britain.
It will contain software that will alert users if someone they’ve been around who also has the app has symptoms and asks them to isolate themselves. The application will then tell you if the individual has tested positive for the disease.
All the information sent by the applications will be kept anonymous.
NHS Digital has been working on the app, which uses bluetooth, along with Google and Apple, which run the two main smartphone operating systems.
Matt Hancock said at the Downing Street press conference on April 12, “ If you don’t feel good about coronavirus symptoms, you can safely tell this new NHS app and the app will send anonymous alert to other users. of the application that has been in significant contact in the past few days, even before (they) have symptoms so they know and can act accordingly.
“All data will be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards and will only be used for NHS care and research and we will not keep it longer than necessary.”
The app was tested at an RAF base in North Yorkshire this week, before its scheduled release to the public.
The UK government has continued to compete to achieve its coronavirus test target of 100,000 today as it faces increasing calls to announce a plan to end the blockade.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to return to Downing Street on Monday after a two-week break at Checkers to recover from the virus.
He spent a week at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital, London, and three days in intensive care to combat the disease.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab rejected calls for an earlier reduction in the coronavirus blockade today, emphasizing that the government aimed to exercise caution to avoid a second wave.
It has declined to disclose details of how the UK will emerge from the blockade, despite Welsh and Scottish ministers publishing their strategies.
Nicola Sturgeon has hinted that Scotland can lift its block at a different rate than the rest of the UK.
It has also been announced that the UK will begin requesting newcomers to quarantine for 14 days, after allowing at least 15,000 people to enter each week without checks.
