Nearly 100,000 people catching coronavirus every day in England, new study suggests
pharmafile | October 29, 2020 | News story | Research and Development |
Nearly 100,000 people are being infected with COVID-19 each day according to a new study from Imperial College London.
Named the REACT-1 project, which was commissioned by the Department of Health, the research teams have been swabbing tens of thousands of people every week, and estimated that there were around 96,000 people getting infected every day in England by 25 October. Overall, the study sent swabs to 85,971 volunteers in England between 16 October and 25 October. 863 people tested positive.
The researchers at Imperial College London have warned that in the coming weeks the number of cases per day will pass those seen at the height of the first wave in March and April. Previous projections estimated during this time there were 100,000 cases daily that led to over 40,000 deaths in the first wave.
The study has also warned that infections in England are doubling every nine days, suggesting there could be 200,000 daily cases in November. The research team speculated that the recent cold and rainy weather have driven people to meeting more indoors which has allowed the disease to spread more rapidly. The team has already speculated that 1.3% of everyone living in England was carrying the disease by 25 October, or the equivalent of one in 75 people.
Professor Igor Rudan, joint Director of the Centre for Global Health and WHO Collaborating Centre, University of Edinburgh, said: “This study should be considered very accurate and reliable scientific evidence that shows that a very large second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is underway. It will inevitably lead to a very large number of infections, severe episodes and deaths in the coming weeks and months.”
Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor of Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, also commented on the study and said: “This latest REACT study contains some sobering numbers eighteen to 24-year-olds remain the age group with the highest level of infections, but in the 55 to 64 age group, the number infected people has tripled, demonstrating how the virus spreads into more at risk people if left unchecked. We can expect this situation to continue to deteriorate if authorities remain slow to react.”
Conor Kavanagh
