THE 'R' number in Yorkshire appears to be under the crucial figure needed to reduce the number of coronavirus cases and likelihood of a second wave.

New data released by Public Health England (PHE) and Cambridge University estimates what the R value is currently.

The R value is the average number of people an infected individual passes the virus onto and crucially, if that figure exceeds one, the disease could rapidly spread throughout the population again.

New data estimates the R number for Yorkshire currently stands at 0.89.

The new highest region in the UK is the North-West which has an estimated 'R' number of 1.01 - the rate where, on average every person who is infected will infect one other person.

The Government's value remained between 0.7 and 0.9 for the UK as a whole, though the figure has a two to three week lag, meaning it does not account for the latest easing of the lockdown.

PHE medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle said: "Our estimates show that the regional R numbers have increased although they remain below one for most of England - this is to be expected as we gradually move out of lockdown.

"It is vital that everyone continues with social distancing, practising good hand hygiene and must remain at home and order a test if they have symptoms."

PHE estimated that there are 17,000 new infections each day in England, with a range being at between 11,000 and 25,000.

But an Office for National Statistics figure put the new cases at 5,600 daily, down from around 8,000 a week ago.

That figure would mean fewer than one in every 1,000 people have Covid-19.