National Statistical

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) COVID-19 Infection Survey was launched in April 2020 to provide valuable, timely estimates on how many people were infected with COVID-19. These data helped the governments of UK countries make decisions on how to respond to the evolving pandemic and provided information to the public.
The survey is changing during 2022. What do these changes mean and how will the survey continue to be valuable? Here, Sarah Crofts explains more.

As well as providing estimates on infection levels and antibodies, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS) collects information from participants on their vaccination status, providing some insight into vaccine effectiveness on variants, including Delta.

Our monthly visits to the same participants over an extended period allow us to see who becomes infected over time. Sarah Crofts explains more about our work on vaccine effectiveness:

As well as providing estimates on infection levels and antibodies, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS) collects information from participants on their vaccination status, providing some insight into vaccine effectiveness on variants, including Delta. Our monthly visits to the same participants over a long period of time allow us to see who becomes infected and how antibodies change over time.

The ONS is reporting signs of a recent increase in COVID-19 infection rates in much of the UK. There are also indications of the first cases of the newer B.1.617.2 variant. The ONS survey repeatedly tests a large, randomised sample of the entire community population. In this post Sarah Crofts explains what it can tell us about the spread of COVID-19 variants.