Coronavirus update UK: R estimate declines to 0.6-0.9 range

The estimated COVID-19 reproduction "R" number for the whole United Kingdom currently stands in the 0.6-0.9 range, compared to the 0.7-0.9 range announced last week, the British Health Ministry reported on Friday, per Reuters.

Further details of the weekly publication revealed that the daily case growth rate improved from -5% to -2% to -6% to -3%.

Market reaction

The UK's FTSE 100 Index inched slightly higher after this report and was last seen gaining 0.22% on the day at 6,630. Meanwhile, the GBP/USD pair was trading at its highest level since April 2018 at 1.4030, rising 0.42%.