New app shows coronavirus prevalence rate

The ZOE Covid Symptom Study app shows the prevalence rate of coronavirus in England

A new Covid-19 dashboard shows how widespread the virus is in your area – providing an insight into how likely it is you will see yourself moving up or down tiers next week.

If you are not sick of data by now, then the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app presents its daily data from experts at health science company ZOE and King’s College London, in a handy new dashboard.

It shows the “prevalence rate” – cases per 100,000 of the population – of coronavirus for every area in England as well as the rate among people aged 60 and above.

In a glimmer of hope, it shows only five “subregions” which are in Tier 2 and where the case rate is rising.

This includes the county of Suffolk in the East of England, and in the South East, the combined “subregion” of Reading, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest, Windsor and Maidenhead and West Berkshire has seen cases rise.

Meanwhile, in the South West region, the ‘subregion’ of Wiltshire and Swindon has also seen cases rise.

And in the North West, the ‘subregion’ of Warrington and Cheshire has also seen cases increase.

If these places continue to see cases rise they could enter the dreaded Tier 3 next week when the tiers are set to be reviewed.

The ZOE Covid Symptom Study report is presented to the Government each day.

The latest report shows that the majority of England has seen cases per 100,000 of the population fall or remain the same.

But it is bad news for the Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull “subregion” in the West Midlands region, as they sit in the toughest Tier 3 and are seeing cases rise – meaning they may be stuck there for a while yet.

And in Yorkshire, in the Humber, cases have also increased in the Tier 3 area.

The ZOE Covid Symptom Study UK Infection Survey figures are based on around one million weekly reporters and the proportion of newly symptomatic users who have positive swab tests.

Leading the team is Professor Tim Spector, a Professor of Genetic Epidemiology of King’s College London and Principal Investigator of the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app.

He tweeted on Friday: We launched today on the ZOE app, a complex dashboard about the stats for English tiers based on the govt criteria on prevalence, trends and NHS capacity.