How many people in Daventry could have the Covid-19 bug right now

Daventry may have of the lowest Covid-19 infection rates in the country.

Medics launched a new smartphone app tracking how the deadly bug has spread and using live data to record all those who have symptoms right now.

The team from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Trust — at the hospital which saved Boris Johnson's life — take information from each volunteer user of the the Covid Symptom tracker to judge the rate of infection based on how many are showing coronavirus symptoms.

So far, more than 2,700 users in the Daventry District Council area are updating their current state of health daily with 591 people — about one in every 150 — people reporting symptoms.

That compares with one in 100 in Northampton and one in every 90 in the South Northamptonshire district covering Towcester and Brackley.

Official NHS figures say 990 have tested positive for Covid-19 in Northamptonshire since the outbreak hit the county on March 3 — as at 9am yesterday (Monday April 28). But the vast majority of those tests are taken from patients already seriously ill in hospital.

More than 2.6million people have downloaded the Covid Symptom tracker app nationwide with results plotted on an interactive map based on local council boundaries.

The Guy's and St Thomas' team, working alongside scientists from Kings College London, admit the figures are only an estimate since not everyone with the virus shows symptoms and those with symptoms might be ill with something else.

But they say a lack of widespread testing outside NHS testing makes large-scale symptom tracking useful to scientists studying the virus.

Project leader Dr Tim Spector is professor of genetic epidemiology at Kings. He said: "The more people who use the app, the better the real-time data we have to combat the crisis in this country.

"This can help us better understand symptoms of Covid-19, understand how fast the virus is spreading in different areas, identify high-risk areas and identify who is most at risk by better understanding symptoms linked to health conditions."

The Prime Minister spent a week in St Thomas' Hospital in London, including three nights in intensive care, after being admitted following a positive test for Covid-19.

He was discharged on Easter Monday and returned to work at Downing Street for the first time yesterday (Monday April 27).

The app is not intended as a diagnostic tool but a way for scientists to study large numbers of people from a distance.

Anyone signing up gives their location and reports how they are feeling every day. You can report for yourself and others in your family.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.