Research suggests Covid infections in Sheffield could be higher than official figure

The latest statistics from Public Health England show 1,374 people tested positive for coronavirus across the city during the seven days to January 23 – giving a weekly infection rate of 234.9 new cases per 100,000 people.

However, the COVID Symptom Study app, which has more than four million contributors globally and 8,016 in Sheffield sharing details of any Covid-19 symptoms they experience, estimates there are more than 500 active cases per 100,000 people in the city.

The latest figures from the app, which is a not-for-profit initiative launched by health science company ZOE with scientific analysis provided by King’s College London, show there are believed to be 3,132 active Covid-19 cases in Sheffield – a rate of 541.9 per 100,000 people.

Unlike the official Public Health England data, which is based solely on test results, the ZOE study takes into account numerous symptoms reported by its many users to estimate how many people in a given area have the virus at any given time.

Its latest figures, published on Wednesday, January 27, show that 524,334 people across the UK are predicted to have symptomatic COVID.

The study suggests the latest lockdown is working, with its daily UK estimate of new symptomatic COVID cases having fallen significantly from nearly 70,000 earlier this year to 29,217.

Its figures for the rest of South Yorkshire show there are an estimated 578.1 active cases per 100,000 people in Barnsley, 344.5 in Doncaster and 443.5 in Rotherham.