HUNDREDS of thousands across the UK may have already had or are currently suffering from coronavirus, latest figures from NHS 111 have revealed.

Latest figures show that more than 1.7m NHS assessments in just 15 days have concluded that people had, or were currently dealing with COVID-19, based on symptoms.

It comes as research suggested that the UK lockdown had so far been successful in efforts to "flatten the curve" and control the spread of infection.

NHS 111 said there had been 1,496,651 web-based assessments in 15 days which flagged potential COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile assessments via the NHS 111 AND 999 phone lines concluded that a further 243,543 had a strong potential to be experiencing or had already had the virus.

It said assessment numbers did not relate to individual people as it was possible people had sought help more than once, or via various channels.

'Job not done'

However, researchers said Britain remaining in lockdown would be imperative in efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicone said the UK lockdown could be driving down the number of people one person who has coronavirus infects.

It estimated that before the lockdown one positive person would infect 2.6 other people on average.

But after measures were introduced by the UK Government, this figure could now be around the 0.62 mark.

Professor John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the research, said: "If we see similar changes across the UK population, we would expect to see the epidemic to start to decline.

"However, our estimates are not to be read as 'job done'.

"Rather, they should be used as motivation for us all to keep following UK Government instructions. It's imperative we don't take our foot off the pedal.

"We must continue to stop transmission of the virus to reduce the burden on the NHS now and over the coming months."