Could England have avoided second lockdown by sticking to tiers?

By Adam Vaughan

ENGLAND didn’t need a second lockdown because daily covid-19 cases were already peaking under previously imposed regional restrictions, according to a researcher leading a popular symptom-tracking app. “It was unnecessary, if you looked at the latest data on the curves,” says Tim Spector at King’s College London, who oversees the Covid Symptom Study. Other researchers disagree, however.

Almost 3 million people have signed up to the study’s app, which asks users to log how they are feeling each day and input results from any covid-19 tests. …