Coronavirus infections are beginning to plateau in Havering, according to Public Health England (PHE).

On May 27, there was one case reported in the borough. That is the last date available for confirmed Covid-19 cases, as tests can take up to five days to process,

For nearly a month, since May 4, PHE has recorded between one and five cases per day. From April 17 to May 4, up to 17 cases per day were reported.

The national peak was mid to late April, with April 21 recording the highest number of daily deaths, 1,172. April 10 had the second highest with 1,152.

In Havering, the peak came a little earlier. Between March 31 and April 10, there were at least 26 cases confirmed per day. According to NHS England, Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes recorded on average 14 deaths per day in the most intense period of the pandemic, between April 1 and April 13.

According to the same data set, 711 people in Havering have been tested positive for the disease.

This equals one in 362 people using the most recent population census by the Office of National Statistics in 2018. Although this may seem like an incredibly low number, the figures depend on the number of tests being done, and without the whole borough being tested, the number will be a lot lower than the true number of cases.

At the moment, it is impossible to know the true number, however increased testing will create a more complete picture as do symptom tracking apps, such as the Covid Symptom Study app developed by King’s College London and health science company ZOE.

Other factors may affect the numbers of cases, such as the age of the population and density.