Coronavirus R-number remains steady for second consecutive week, government’s scientific advisers say

The figure stayed between 0.7 and 1

The reproductive rate of coronavirus has remained steady for the second week in a row, scientific advisers have said.

The so-called R-number – the average number of people that will contract coronavirus from an infected person – was between 0.7 and 1 across the UK.

There is a time lag in the calculations, with the latest R value relating to the situation two to three weeks ago.

Last week, the rate was also between 0.7 and 1. Worryingly, the figure has increased – the weekly figure before that was between 0.5 and 0.9.

The upward trend is thought to be driven by the continued spread of the virus in care homes and hospitals during the period covered, rather than transmission in the wider community.

The R number must stay below 1 in order for the government to ease the lockdown.

If the figure is above one, the virus will spread exponentially. An R number of less than one indicates the virus is in decline.

Boris Johnson has said ministers would reimpose controls if the value started to pick up again.

Announcing his “road map” out of lockdown, the prime minister said: “We must make sure that any measures we take do not force the reproduction rate of the disease – the R – back up over one, so that we have the kind of exponential growth we were facing a few weeks ago.”

PA