That's after the last few weeks of rapid growth are.

Medical editor Fergus Walsh has been taking a look at the numbers.

This is a huge enterprise.

Every month, 150,000 people from every corner in England chosen at random to receive AH Home Corona virus swab kit.

It enables researchers to get an accurate picture of the amount of infection in the community, including among those with no symptoms.

The last samples were collected this weekend, and interim results show the virus has been spreading fast.

The survey estimates that one in every 200 people in England is currently infected with coronavirus.

That's four times the level of just a month ago.

Prevalence is highest among the 18 to 24 year olds, among whom one in 100 is thought to be infected.

But it's rising across all ages, with a seven fold increase among the over 65 the group most at risk from the virus.

Since a low point in early August, Cases of CO vid 19 have been rising throughout England on going up fastest in the Northwest on Northeast.

But those analyzing the data have found something less gloomy.

The speed of growth seems to be slowing down.

You can think about an epidemic curve being a hill.

We've been growing up a really steep section of the hill.

A little bit of good news in the results that have found today is that maybe it's not quite a steep, but that's really not enough.

We need to be going down the hill, and we really need to get to the bottom of the hill like we were in the summer.

As for our the virus reproduction number, that's still above one, which means the epidemic is growing its budget private test, whose placement but the study team think it's not as high as it waas, meaning the rise in cases is mawr gradual.

The study published today shows us hope that together we can crack this on the MAWR.

People follow the rules and reduce their social contact, the quicker we can get Liverpool on the Northeast back on their feet.

The challenge will be to motivate people to socially distance throughout the winter, the season when respiratory viruses spread more easily and to do it while keeping schools open on the economy afloat.

Fergus Walsh b B C.

News.

I'm joined now by our health editor him.

So millions of people will be under some sort of local locked down by the weekend.

There are plans afoot to make it simpler, this sort of almost a traffic light system, so we understand it better.

Yes, so if he plans have been circulating for England in Whitehall for a couple of weeks now, we understand their complete.

They could be rolled out in the next couple of weeks, though not finally signed off.

The idea is to end this system where you can have confusion with one local council with one set of restrictions on another not far away with something completely different.

So the thought is you go to a regional system for England and then take a tiered approach based on risk.

So the bottom tier Tier one, as it would be called, would be based on national restrictions, as they are now like the rule of six, with nothing extra on top of that, if it's higher risk not based on the number of infections, but the rate at which they are accelerating.

Tier two.

You'd have a ban on mixing households in indoor venues, homes and pubs.

Sort of thing we've seen in the Northeast and announced for Liverpool on the highest risk would be Tier three.

Now, if a region is in that tier, there'd be a widespread lock down.

It would see everything but schools on essential shops basically closed.

It doesn't appear at the moment, though.

There's a region which would fall into that category.

And it's all about targeting localized outbreaks, isn't it?

Yes, Chris Witty, the UK government's chief medical adviser, said yesterday was very different now from what it was in March.

Thes are localized, particularly the Northeast in the north west of England.

That's why you have this approach with different types of restrictions in different regions.

It hasn't been completely finalized On one thing.

Certain new national restrictions haven't been ruled out.