Two weeks in, Britain's COVID-19 lockdown having an effect, study shows

Published 2020-04-08, 09:24 a/m

LONDON (Reuters) - Data gathered from 2 million people in Britain using a new COVID-19 symptom tracker app suggests lockdown measures are slowing the spread of the disease, researchers said on Wednesday.

The rate of new coronavirus symptoms reported in Britain has slowed significantly in the past few days, the King’s College London scientists said.

Their latest figures suggest that around 1.4 million people in Britain aged between 20 and 69 currently have symptomatic COVID-19, a fall from 1.9 million on April 1, as some have recovered and fewer people report new symptoms.

The drop in new symptoms suggests that although the numbers of CVOID-19 patients being admitted to hospital are rising, as are the numbers dying, these should start to fall in about two weeks if social distancing measures are kept in place.

Official figures show Britain's total hospital deaths from COVID-19 rose by 786 to 6,159 as of 1600 GMT on April 6.

Like many other countries hit by the pandemic, Britain has imposed strict social distancing along with shop and school closures. Introducing the measures more than 2 weeks ago, authorities also asked everyone to stay at home except for essential travel.

Tim Spector, who led the King's team analysing the symptom tracker data, said the signs were "encouraging".

"Even though hospital admissions and deaths are still on the rise, we hope that these figures offer a much needed light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

Spector's analysis comes after preliminary work by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine published a week ago also showed that social distancing may already be working by dramatically reducing the number of daily contacts between people.

Spector said his data showed, however, that Britain's larger cities like London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Liverpool "continue to have very high levels of symptoms in the community".

© Reuters. The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in London

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Wednesday that Britain is in no position to ease the shutdown as the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak is still likely to be more than a week away.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2025 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.