How many people in Northampton have Covid-19 symptoms right now?

New phone app logs all users showing signs they may have the bug
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Medics have launched a new smartphone app tracking how the Covid-19 bug has spread in Northampton.

A 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.

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So far, around 3,000 users in the Northampton area are updating their current state of health daily with just under one in every 100 people are reporting symptoms.

Northampton's population is in the region of 225,000, meaning approximately 2,000 people have symptoms.

In South Northamptonshire, the figure is just over one in every 100 — 1.1 per cent of 2,745 users. With a population of 92,500, that equates to just over 1,000 people currently with symptoms.

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.

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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 tracker app shows where users are reporting Covid-19 symptomsThe tracker app shows where users are reporting Covid-19 symptoms
The tracker app shows where users are reporting Covid-19 symptoms

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.

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"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."

Current estimates from the app show a 0.9 per cent infection rate in NorthamptonCurrent estimates from the app show a 0.9 per cent infection rate in Northampton
Current estimates from the app show a 0.9 per cent infection rate in Northampton

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.