The R number in the North West may still be continuing to linger above one as localised coronavirus restrictions remain in force.
The Government announced the latest figures showing that the rate in the North West is between 0.8 and 1.1.
The daily number of new cases in the region has fluctuated between a drop of 3% and a rise of 1% over the last seven days – although low overall numbers can mean a small number of cases has a big impact on the percentage rate.
The R figure is a calculation of how many people on average an infected person is passing the virus on to, and is important to tracking the spread of the disease.
If the R rate dips below one, it means that the number of new cases will continue to fall.
The North West remains the region with the highest R Rate, while the South East is the lowest at 0.8-0.9.
The Government has said that the most appropriate way of measuring and containing the virus is on a local level.
A spokesman said: “When there is a significant amount of variability across a region, for example due to a local outbreak, then a single average value does not accurately reflect the way infections are changing throughout the region.
“It is more appropriate to identify local hotspots through, for example, monitoring numbers of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.”
The Department of Health publishes the R number for every region once a week, with this week’s figures standing at:
- East of England – 0.8-1
- London – 0.8- 1
- Midlands – 0.8-1
- North East and Yorkshire – 0.8-1
- North West – 0.8-1.1
- South East – 0.8-0.9
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South West – 0.8-1
Local lockdown measures have been imposed in Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire including Preston and in Leicester, although Liverpool has so far avoided this fate.
There were some more limited measures including a ban on visiting care homes, imposed in the Princes Park, Greenbank and Picton wards due to a small spike in cases, but evidence suggests case number have fallen again.
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