Coronavirus experts warn infections 75% higher than thought in past few days as more test positive for a virus in a test not testing for a virus
The number of people infected with coronavirus every day in England is 75% higher than previously thought, experts have revealed.
The figures come as the country waits on whether the government’s decision to reopen businesses like pubs and hairdressers has an impact on the virus’s spread.
Cambridge University’s MRC Biostatistics Unit, which runs nowcasting and forecasting for infections, believes that 5,300 people are contracting COVID-19 every day, up from the 3,000 estimated last week, an increase of 76.6%.
They have also found there is a 50% chance that the reproduction number – an indicator of how fast the virus is spreading – has risen above one in the North East and Yorkshire, meaning the outbreak there could be growing.
The unit said there is “no evidence of any further change in the number of daily new infections” over the last week.
“We predict that the number of deaths each day is likely to be between 70 and 135 by the third week of July,” a blurb attached to the latest data states.
“We estimate it is likely that R is below 1 in most regions of England.”
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