Covid-19 symptom study app shows increases in Corby, Wellingborough and East Northants

An app that gets users to self-report if they have Covid-19 symptoms has shown in increase in symptomatic cases in Corby, Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire.

The Covid-19 Symptom Study app is part of research into the virus and asks users to report how they are feeling every day. If you are feeling unwell, you are asked to list your symptoms.

The data is being used to estimate the rate of symptomatic coronavirus cases in local authorities.

This week, there were 5,357 people in the north of the county using the app, another decrease on the previous week.

However, in Corby, Wellingborough and East Northants there was an increase in the estimated percentage of people with coronavirus symptoms.

In Wellingborough, it doubled from 0.5 per cent of people to one per cent of residents.

East Northants saw an increase from 0.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent and Corby saw an increase of 0.2 per cent as the app reported 1.2 per cent of people currently have coronavirus symptoms.

The rate remained the same in Kettering at 0.8 per cent

Yesterday (Thursday), the number of confirmed cases in each area were 117 in Corby, 178 in East Northants, 219 in Kettering and 145 in Wellingborough.

The Covid-19 Symptom Study app was developed by top scientists in the UK to help study coronavirus symptoms, how and where it is spreading.

It was set up 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 has been contributing to vital research on the novel virus and has the largest group of participants contributing to Covid-19 research in the world

The app's findings have been published on its website and so far this includes finding that anosmia, or loss of taste and smell, is a symptom of the virus before the NHS had added it to a list of common symptoms earlier this week.

Now the app needs more funding to keep going and said: "Help us to continue the world's largest study of Covid-19, which is saving lives and helping to safely lift lockdown.

"Funds will support researchers, scientists, developers and data scientists supplying our healthcare system with critical Covid-19 insights."

You can find the app and how to donate online here and you can also find the app in your smartphone app store by searching 'Zoe'.