Here's why health officials can't provide the Covid-19 'R' number for the Isle of Wight

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis began in the UK, News OnTheWight has sought to bring readers the most accurate, up-to-date information in relation to the crisis.

Every Tuesday we produce a report of the latest weekly figures relating to positive tests and deaths where Covid-19 is named on the death certificate.

We also provide the rate per 100,000 of population, to make it easy for residents to compare the Island against other parts of the country. It’s been reported this week that Island has the third lowest rate infection rate in the country.

What’s the R number?
Many readers have told us they want to know what the ‘R’ number for the Island is.

What is an R number?

The reproduction number (R) is the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person.

An R number of 1 means that on average every person who is infected will infect 1 other person, meaning the total number of infections is stable. If R is 2, on average, each infected person infects 2 more people. If R is 0.5 then on average for each 2 infected people, there will be only 1 new infection. If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is growing, if R is less than 1 the epidemic is shrinking. The higher R is above 1, the more people 1 infected person infects and so the faster the epidemic grows.

R can change over time. For example, it falls when there is a reduction in the number of contacts between people, which reduces transmission. R increases when the numbers of contacts between people rise, leading to a rise in viral transmission.

News OnTheWight asked Isle of Wight Public Health whether they were able to provide the R number for the Island, but have been told this only available for the region (South East) – currently it’s between 1.1-1.4.

The Director of Public Health, Simon Bryant, told News OnTheWight,