A top disease expert is warning Londoners to have “extra vigilance” as high streets open up as fresh data suggests the number of new cases is not coming down as quickly in the capital as in other regions.
King’s College London professor of genetic epidemiology, Tim Spector, is one of the country’s top experts in tracking diseases and is behind the Covid-19 Symptom Tracker app.
He warned today that the university’s app is not seeing levels fall in London in the same pattern as other regions - meaning Londoners should not allow themselves to get relaxed about social distancing rules as bubbles form and shops open.
The app was developed with health science company ZOE and since March has been used by almost four million people in the UK for logging suspected symptoms.
New data released from the app today suggests the national R rate has remained below one - the level of exponential spread - at 0.8, and that new cases fell overall in all regions in the two weeks to June 13.
But levels have reduced the least in London and the South East.
In the general population in London, excluding care homes, around 729 new cases are being reported every day.
He said: “We still aren’t seeing the numbers coming down in the same way in London and the South East, where we need extra vigilance, especially with shoppers heading back to the high street and social interactions between wider family groups increasing.”
New cases across the UK have fallen by over a quarter on average in recent weeks, according to the app’s data.
Figures suggest that there are just over 3,600 people becoming newly infected with Covid-19 every day in Britain, down from 4,942 in the previous fortnight.
With around 845 new cases daily, the Midlands now has the highest levels.
In the North - where previously cases had been rising faster than other regions - reported cases fell in line with the rest of the country in the period.
The North West saw 742 new cases each day, while the North East and Yorkshire saw a fall to around 548 new daily cases.
Scotland and Wales continued to report the lowest infection rates, with 102 and 118 daily on average.
The expert added: “These latest figures are good news for the UK. We are seeing the R value holding stable below 1 and at the same time we are seeing the number of new cases continuing to fall across the UK.
“In most areas the rate of new population cases is less than one in ten thousand. With the changes in the regions, the gaps we were seeing just a few weeks ago are closing, particularly the North-South Divide.”
The team behind the app were among the first to highlight loss of taste and smell as a symptom of Covid-19, prompting the NHS to add it to its list of coronavirus indicators, and last week suggested unusual rashes could also be a sign of infection.