Health Security Agency to STOP publishing Covid-19 data in January

The UK Health Security Agency will stop publishing modelling data on coronavirus in early January.

Chief data scientist Dr Nick Watkins said the publication of this specific data is “no longer necessary” as the country is now living with Covid.

The R range and growth rate for England had been published weekly during the height of the pandemic, and fortnightly since April this year.

It was first published in May 2020 for all of the UK, until April 2021 when it was published for England only.

The reproductive rate, the R rate, refers to the number of people an infected person will pass the virus onto.

The UKHSA Epidemiology Modelling Review Group (EMRG) said that, following a detailed review, the next publication of its consensus statement on Covid-19 on January 6 “will be the last”.

It said Covid-19 incidence data will continue to be accessible from the Office for National Statistics infection survey.