Commuters walk along a platform at a London bank station on September 11.
Photographer: Holly Adams / Bloomberg
Photographer: Holly Adams / Bloomberg
Coronavirus is now spreading rapidly in the UK for the first time since March, urging ministers to limit social activities to public activities.
Government figures put the so-called “R” rate – the number of reproductions that show how fast the virus grows – between 1.0 and 1.2, with a surge in cases in younger people. When R1 is above, the virus spreads rapidly.
A separate study from the Imperial College Ledge of more than 150,000 people in England estimated the number of R’s to be 1.7 and found that the virus is now doubling every seven to eight days.
R value is the number of people that an infected person will pass the virus to; Cases increase rapidly as this number increases. Government scientists believe that the R rate was above 1 in early March before the UK’s national lockdown.
Matt Hancock, the UK’s health secretary, said people should obey the law and pointed to the need to socialize into more than six groups.
“We have seen around the world that initially an increase in cases in young people leads to hospitalization and death,” he said. “The epidemic is not over, and everyone has a role to play in keeping the virus at bay and avoiding further controls.”
A study by Imperial College Ledge and Ipsos Mori estimates that between July there were 13 people per 10,000 people, compared to four per 10,000 people. 22 to 7 Sept. 24 and 11 August.
It said the Covid-19 case no longer clusters in care homes, as seen in May and June, indicating that the virus has now spread more widely in the community. Infection is on the rise in all adult groups under the age of 65, with higher rates among the population. Aged 18 to 24. Infections are highest in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Northeast and the Northwest.
“What we’re seeing is evidence of an epidemic in the community and not the result of increasing testing capacity,” said Paul Elliott of Imperial Careal College.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure from his own conservative members of parliament to reconsider the “Six Rule” law, which was unveiled this week.
“It’s time for the government to move to a voluntary system, unless the government can demonstrate otherwise,” former minister Steve Baker told BBC Radio 4 on Friday. “It’s time we start living like free people.”
The government’s estimated R rate represents the average situation over the past few weeks, so more people returning to schools and work do not fully reflect the recent changes in transmission caused by the resumption.
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