August 19, 2020

update on the future of the ONS COVID-19 Infection Survey

The Department for Health and Social Care and the Office for National Statistics made an announcement this morning about the COVID-19 Infection Survey.

So far, over 195,000 swab tests have been carried out in total over the duration of the study, with results improving our understanding of the current rate of infection and the number of people likely to have developed antibodies to the virus.

Participants in the study form a representative sample of the entire UK population by age and geography. As the survey expands, this will give statisticians more detail about the level of infection at a local level, to give more certainty in their estimates, and information about the characteristics of the disease.

Speakers included:

Katherine Kent, Co-Lead for COVID-19 Infection Survey analysis, Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Prof Sarah Walker, Chief Investigator and Academic Lead for the COVID-19 Infection Survey and Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford