Coronavirus: App reveals which UK places are most likely to stick to lockdown rules
Written by News on 06/04/2020
A “heat map” has revealed which places in the UK are sticking to lockdown rules – and where people are more likely to break them.
According to the Evergreen Life app, 25% of people in Middlesborough reported they had ignored “stay at home” rules, while around 20% in Enfield and 17% in North Hertfordshire had done the same.
Meanwhile, people in Arun, West Sussex, were most likely to stick to the rules, with 98.4% saying they had not gone out.
In Ryedale, North Yorkshire, 98.3% of people said they had stayed at home.
The Evergreen Life app asks users whether anyone in their household has COVID-19 symptoms, such as a dry cough or temperature, and whether or not they are following the government guidance.
People will also be asked to report when they recover.
The data, which was last updated on Sunday, has surveyed more than 25,000 people so far and is being used to help scientists track the spread of coronavirus throughout the UK.
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Key workers, such as NHS staff and delivery drivers, are not being included in the data.
Government rules state that anyone with symptoms should self-isolate for seven days, even if their symptoms go away.
If anyone in your household has symptoms, you should stay at home for 14 days.
In most areas, more than 90% of people have stuck to lockdown rules.
Areas such as Bromley in southeast London, Adur in West Sussex, Kingston upon Thames in London, Cheltenham in Gloucestershire and Liverpool all reported high levels of people staying at home.
Before lockdown, 53% of people with symptoms were staying at home, but by 27 March – after the lockdown – 89% of those with symptoms reported they were staying at home.
The app was developed by Evergreen Life in collaboration with data and health scientists, and the data is being analysed by experts from the universities of Manchester and Liverpool, as well as the NHS.
Dr Ian Hall, a scientist from the University of Manchester who has been analysing data models from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, said: “Evergreen Life users are supporting a better understanding of the local experience of COVID19 disease through sharing their data which will be incredibly useful to national and local planning.”
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: App reveals which UK places are most likely to stick to lockdown rules
