MORE data should be shared to help figure out where coronavirus hotspots are in the UK, according to the Green Party.

The political party is calling for NHS England to release location data from its 111 service to allow health and social care staff to figure out where the virus has hit the country hardest so far.

The Greens' health spokesman is Larry Sanders, Oxfordshire resident and brother to US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

He said the step could be the 'next best measure' for finding out where the centres of infection are in the UK in the absence of widespread testing.

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While current confirmed cases are collated only through test results at hospitals, earlier data of those with symptoms is collected through the use of NHS 111 phone and online services.

Larry Sanders said: "In the absence of population testing, the next best measure of where centres of infection may be forming could be shown by the rates of calls to NHS England by people experiencing symptoms.

"Data sharing between the key national Covid-19 response organisations and local health and social care systems is essential for adequate planning."

Because of the data from these calls, the Greens have now called for the government, via NHS England, to release the geomapped data of people with symptoms to people working on a local level across the country.

Mr Sanders added that the 'time gap' between infection and being tested could be up to three weeks, and the data could help to predict what the demand might be in certain areas in the near future.

People in hospital due to coronavirus have had a period of virus incubation between two and ten days before symptoms start.

They then have a further week of symptoms, which include a dry continuous cough and a fever.

The government advises them to remain at home and self-isolate for seven days to see how symptoms progress.

If they share their home with others, then these people should also self-isolate for a period of 14 days to see if they develop symptoms.

Mr Sanders added: "Hospital testing of Covid-19 is giving us ‘out of date‘ data on the actual infection rates present in local communities. Directors of public health working at a local level would be better armed to know what is coming down the line with earlier symptomatic data collected by the phone and online services.”

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The Greens have also highlighted that two-tier council authorities - like Oxfordshire - may have some discrepancy in their coronavirus figures.

Public Health England is providing the totals of reported coronavirus cases at a first tier local authority level only.

In Oxfordshire, the first tier is Oxfordshire County Council, with the second tier being the district councils across the county and Oxford City Council.

Former Green MEP Gina Dowding said breaking down the location data of infections to district level would be useful,

Ms Dowding, who is currently a Lancashire County Councillor, said: "It is essential that those people working flat out to plan the local response to the epidemic are given as much information as possible. This government has big data, it is now time to release it for the common good.”

On Friday, December 20, social distancing measures across the UK began to ramp up, with pubs and non-essential shops closed.

A full 'lockdown' was then announced on Monday, March 23.