SPI-M-O: Consensus Statement on COVID-19, 24 September 2020
Consensus Statement prepared by SPI-M-O.
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Consensus statement from SPI-M-O on COVID-19. It was considered at SAGE 59 on 24 September 2020. The paper is the assessment of the evidence at the time of writing. As new evidence or data emerges, SAGE updates its advice accordingly.
This paper should be read alongside the ‘SPI-M-O: Consensus Statement on COVID-19’ released under SAGE 57, and accompanying paper on ‘Circuit Breakers Ready Reckoners: Implementing (partial) Lockdown for 2 weeks over Half-Term’ under SAGE 59.
This paper contains estimates of the reproduction number (R) and growth rate for the UK, 4 nations and NHS England (NHSE) regions.
Different modelling groups use different data sources to estimate these values using mathematical models that simulate the spread of infections. Some may even use all these sources of information to adjust their models to better reflect the real-world situation. There is uncertainty in all these data sources, which is why estimates can vary between different models, and why we do not rely on one model; evidence from several models is considered, discussed, combined, and the growth rate and R are then presented as ranges.
See the latest R number and growth rates, and further background.
This paper references a reasonable worst-case planning scenario (RWCS). RWCS should not be interpreted as a forecast or prediction of what is most likely to happen. They do not represent the full range of possible outcomes and no likelihood is attached to these scenarios.
These documents are released as pre-print publications that have provided the government with rapid evidence during an emergency. These documents have not been peer-reviewed and there is no restriction on authors submitting and publishing this evidence in peer-reviewed journals.