Today the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is launching a new interactive tool to allow people to access a range of COVID-19 data, graphs and data visualisations in one place. In this blog, Ruth Studley explains what this includes and how it is different to other tools already produced by the ONS.
Research understanding the impact of COVID-19 is vital to helping the government make decisions which can stop the spread of the virus and save lives.
Today we are launching the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Latest Insights interactive tool which brings together the latest data on the coronavirus produced by the ONS so that it is accessible in one place.
The new tool will help to pull together the various studies the ONS has been carrying out since March 2020, to help research into understanding the pandemic.
For example, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey is a representative household survey that was set up to estimate the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in the community. Analysis of this survey is produced in collaboration with our research partners at the University of Oxford.
The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is a monthly omnibus survey. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the survey has been adapted to collect weekly data which aims to understand the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our society. This data provides an insight into how peoples personal, home and work lives have changed through the pandemic and what the impact of the pandemic has been on their well-being and the communities in which they live. The data allows consideration of these impacts amongst different parts of society, for example on people of different age, sex, health or from different regions.
The weekly provisional figures on deaths registered in England and Wales was expanded to include the number of deaths involving COVID-19, based on any mention of COVID-19 on the death certificate.
This tool will give people an easy way to navigate all of the data and more. From the front page, you will be able to see the key visualisations and narrative on the level of the virus in the community, the number of deaths involving the virus, and its impact on individuals and society. You can then drill down to get more information on your chosen theme or topic, for example looking at the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 by region, the number of deaths involving the coronavirus by age group, or preventative measures in different areas of England.
Whether you are a curious member of the public, a journalist or an expert user, this tool will enable you to follow the narrative and stay up to date with how the pandemic is progressing.
While this first version will bring together ONS data, future iterations will also include data from external sources. It will be updated frequently with the latest data and will be reactive to the changing climate, as well as data on a wider variety of topics as more information is collected and analysed. For example, analysis on ethnicity and infection in schools which are due to be published by the ONS next week.
This tool will be in addition to the new article Coronavirus (COVID-19) weekly insights: latest health indicators in England which provides a weekly overview of the current situation on infections, hospitalisations and deaths with a written narrative.
This new Coronavirus (COVID-19) Latest Insights tool will allow users to quickly switch between different topics and focus on the aspects that interest them.
We welcome feedback on your experience using this tool and the content by email (infection.survey.analysis@ons.gov.uk).
Ruth Studley, Head of Analysis for the COVID-19 Infection Survey