UK R number falls to 0.7-0.9, pandemic continues to shrink

The estimated COVID-19 reproduction "R" number for Britain is now between 0.7 and 0.9, and the pandemic is shrinking, the health ministry said on Friday.

That represents a slight fall from last week's estimate from 0.7 and 1.0.

"These estimates mean we are confident the epidemic is shrinking across all NHS England regions. However, prevalence of the virus remains high," the health ministry said in a statement.