According to a report in The Telegraph, coronavirus cases in London are dropping off rapidly, to such a degree that mathematical models are predicting that the disease could disappear from the city within a few weeks.
The key “R” number which denotes the rate of contagion has fallen to 0.4 (from a peak of around 2.3), meaning that for every ten people infected with the virus, only four people will catch it from them. At the virus’ peak, over two hundred thousand people were being diagnosed every day in London alone, but lockdown restrictions and, presumably, the natural progression of the disease have caused that number to drop now to just 24 per day in London.
Another study conducted by a team at Manchester University suggested that as many as 17.3 million people across Britain might have already been infected by Covid-19, which would amount to around 1 in 4 people, meaning that the country could soon be able to rely on herd immunity to stem the transmission of the epidemic.