THE 'R rate' in the South West has slightly increased as cases continue to fall in Cornwall.

The fresh data, which has been released by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) on Friday (December 11), rates the ability to spread Covid-19 and the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to, on average.

The updated 'R rate' for the South West is now between 0.8 and 1.0, which is slightly lower than the latest R number range for the UK of 0.9 and 1.0.

The current growth rate in South West, including Cornwall, is set at -4 to 0. The size of the growth rate indicates the speed of change. A growth rate of 0 per cent indicates the epidemic is not spreading in the area.

Likewise, a growth rate of -4 per cent indicates the epidemic is shrinking faster than a growth rate of -3 per cent, for example.

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Last week, the South West had an R rate of 0.7 - 1.0, with a growth rate between -4 per cent to 0 per cent.

The R rate for the South West is now among the lowest across England. London and South East both have the highest R rates at 0.9 - 1.1. 

These are the latest R estimates by NHS England region: 

Region - R Growth rate - per day

England: 0.8-1.0, -2 to 0

East of England: 0.9-1.1, -1 to +2

London: 0.9-1.1, -1 to +1

Midlands: 0.8-1.0, -3 to -1

North East and Yorkshire: 0.7-0.9, -4 to -2

North West: 0.7-0.9, -4 to -2

South East: 0.9-1.1, -1 to +1

South West: 0.8-1.0, -4 to 0

The most recent update on cases in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly showed that, as of 4pm yesterday (Thursday, December 10), the local authority area had 21 new cases recorded in the preceding 24 hours.

The government website stated that the total number of cases in the local authority area now sat at 3,909.

There were 130 cases recorded in the seven days lead up to December 5, with data from the most recent five days not shown due to being incomplete.

This was down from seven-day total of 157 cases recorded the previous Thursday.