Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the estimated R rate in the community is not reported separately from the rate in health and social care settings at Downing Street briefings.
The Government Office for Science currently publishes the latest estimate of the United Kingdom-wide range for R on a weekly basis. The current range is estimated to be 0.7-0.9 and is based on latest data available to determine infection and transmission rates. Because outbreaks in care homes, hospitals and the community are interlinked, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and its subgroups do not calculate them separately.