Rate of COVID-19 infections continues to rise in UK

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - The British government’s scientific advisory SAGE committee announced on Friday that the reproduction number of the novel coronavirus for the UK now ranges between 1.3 and 1.6, up from 1.2-1.5 last week.

The reproduction number refers to the number of people on average an infected person is likely to infect.

A rate within the 1.3-1.6 range means that every 10 people are likely to infect 13-16 others, on average.

Rates above 1.0 mean the number of cases will rise exponentially, and below 1.0 mean the disease will eventually fade away as there will not be enough people being infected to sustain it.

The British government also announced that a further 6,968 people tested positive for COVID-19 across the UK over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 467,146.

They also announced 66 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 42,268.