Coronavirus tracking app reports drop in symptomatic cases in Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and East Northants

An app helping scientists learn more about coronavirus is reporting a drop in symptomatic Covid-19 cases across north Northants as more people than ever are using it.

There are now 6,084 people in Corby, Ketttering, Wellingborough and East Northants self-reporting to the app which records if people have had a Covid-19 test, if they feel unwell and their symptoms.

The Covid-19 Symptom Tracker is reporting the app's findings on its website and shows a drop in coronavirus symptoms in Corby and Wellingborough and no change in Kettering and East Northants.

There are now 1,071 users self-reporting to the app in Corby, a rise of more than 200 people in a week. From these users, 0.4 per cent are currently experiencing coronavirus symptoms.

It is a significant decrease from last week when the app showed 1.8 per cent of people in Corby were symptomatic.

It is a similar picture in Wellingborough, where almost 200 more people started using the app this week too.

The percentage of people with coronavirus symptoms has fallen too, with 0.8 per cent reporting symptoms compared to 1.1 per cent last week.

In Kettering and East Northants the number of app users have gone up, but the percentage of people reporting symptoms has remained at 1 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.

The app is calculating "symptomatic Covid-19" cases because it is thought some people can contract the virus but do not become that unwell, which is described as an asymptomatic case.

It is also possible some of the symptoms being reported might be caused by other illnesses rather than Covid-19.

People are being encouraged to use the app to help scientists learn more about the virus. You can find it in your app store by searching 'Zoe'.

The Covid-19 tracker has been developed by teams from King's College London (KCL), Guys and St Thomas' Hospitals in London and with ZOE Global Ltd, a health science company.

The project's leader, Dr Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, said: "The more people who use the app, the better the real-time data we have to combat the crisis in this country."

Once you have the app, you can report for yourself and others. The app is tracking symptoms and is aiming to increase understanding of the range of Covid-19 symptoms and how widespread it is across the UK.

The team is presenting data and findings from the app on a website here.The app has already helped scientists to see that Covid-19 has been more common and more severe in people living in urban areas and regions of higher poverty.Data from more than 2,000 identical and non-identical twins using the app has also helped scientists understand the role of genetics in coronavirus, as identical twins share 100 per cent of their DNA but non-identical twins are the same as regular siblings.

This showed that some symptoms are linked to genetics whereas other symptoms are linked to the amount of exposure to the virus, underlying health conditions and environment.

If you are using the app, you are helping this research. You can download the app to your phone by searching 'Zoe' in your smartphone app store.