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Over the next week, the government and its advisers will evaluate a large amount of COVID-19 data to come up with a plan to ease lockdown restrictions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will present his roadmap out of the blockade on February 22 and hopes to include the earliest possible dates for the reopening of different sectors of the economy.
But it all depends on the data, and there is a lot to consider.
Sky News has taken a look at the numbers on which the government will base its decisions.
Positivity rate
The percentage of people testing positive has dropped dramatically since the lockdown began and continues to decline.
But, the rate is still not as low as during the summer.
R number
In recent days, the number of people a person with COVID-19 is infecting has dropped to less than one for the first time since July.
The current R number means that, on average, for every 10 people infected, seven to nine more people will infect.
There can be a significant amount of variability in a region, especially if there is a local outbreak, so the government remains cautious about the R number, but experts at SAGE, the scientific advisory body, said the latest estimates “are reliable. “.
Cases
The number of new cases each day has plummeted since the current lockdown began, when they peaked.
They continue to fall, but are still much higher than during the summer, when far fewer people were being tested, compared to now.
Deceased
The number of people dying within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 has dropped sharply since the January 19 peak, two weeks after the shutdown began.
However, deaths are still at the same level as on Boxing Day and April 26, and after a continuous decline since January 28, February 8 saw an increase.
Hospital admissions
The number of people admitted to the hospital has dropped dramatically since the week after the current lockdown began and continues to decline.
But, like cases and deaths, daily hospital admissions are still much higher than in summer and in line with mid-April and mid-November.
The prime minister said that 60% of hospital patients with COVID are under the age of 70, so now is “not the time to relax … because the threat of this virus is still very real.”
COVID-19 Hospital Patient Outcome
As more people are vaccinated, the hope is that fewer will enter the hospital with COVID-19 and fewer will die from the disease.
But, the data suggests that the death rate among COVID-19 hospital patients aged 70 and over remains high.
Vaccines
The government reached its goal of offering the top four priority groups, 15 million people, a vaccine by February 15.
These included all nursing home residents and staff, all those over the age of 70, all frontline NHS and care staff, and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
All regions have vaccinated the majority of people aged 70 and over, and the first dose is now offered to people aged 65 and over.
London is slightly behind the rest of England in giving the first doses to the three main age groups, although it is ahead in the 65-69 age group.
Johnson warned Monday that there was not yet enough data on how vaccination can stop transmission of the virus.
The prime minister has warned that he and his advisers will have to be “very cautious” about their decision to ease the blockade and said they want to see “cautious but irreversible progress.”
