UK daily Covid deaths rise by over 1,000 for a fifth day in a row with 1,295 - but infections are down by a THIRD week-on-week with 41,346 new cases
There was a 25 percent increase on last Saturday s death toll, taking the total number of deaths to 88,590
But in a sign that the harsh lockdown measures are taking effect, cases declined by nearly a third on last week s figure - as the total climbed to more than 3.3 million infections recorded since the pandemic began
Meanwhile a senior SAGE scientist has claimed that the actual number of Britons catching the disease is closer to 150,000, arguing that the size of the second wave is now significantly worse than the first
15 Jan 2021, 13:42
Updated: 15 Jan 2021, 16:03
BRITAIN S official R rate could be below 1 in London - and has fallen overall for England, new Government estimates show.
The crucial value is the UK has narrowed to between 1.2 - 1.3 based on the latest data, available up to January 11.
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Last week Sage estimated that the R rate - the number of people an infected person will pass Covid on to - was between 1.0 and 1.4.
The narrowing in the latest official R rate reflects greater certainty around the estimates, experts say.
The value must be kept below 1 to cause the outbreak to shrink - above 1, and cases will continue to rise.