Covid: R value transmission rate across UK drops slightly to between 0.8 and 1, Sage says
The reproduction number of coronavirus transmission - or R value - is now between 0.8 and 1, the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said.
It is the lowest R value estimate since August and a slight drop from last week when the R value was between 0.9 and 1. It was the first time the R number dropped to below 1 since September.
When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially.
The R number represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.
With the R value between 0.8 and 1, it means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 8 and 10 other people.
The growth rate, which estimates how quickly the number of infections is changing day by day, is between minus 3% and minus 1% for the UK as a whole.
It means the number of new infections is shrinking by between 1% and 3% every day.
Estimates, provided by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), a sub-group of Sage, are shown as a range.
The true values are likely to lie within this range, according to the experts.
Sage also said the figures published on Friday more accurately represent the average situation over the past few weeks rather than the present situation.