This Is How Widespread Coronavirus Infections In England Are Estimated To Be

Results from the ONS survey of 10,000 households have been published for the first time.
|

Get the latest on coronavirus. Sign up to the Daily Brief for news, explainers, how-tos, opinion and more.

An estimated 148,000 people in England outside hospitals and care homes had coronavirus between April 27 and May 10, a new study has said.

The Covid-19 infection survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated the number based on swab tests collected from 10,705 individual participants.

The figure represents 0.27% of the UK population outside hospitals and care homes.

Taking into account the margin of error for the study, the ONS said the lower range of the estimate was 94,000 while the upper range was 222,000.

In total, 25,000 people in 10,000 households in England are taking part in the survey, though this is to be widened to include Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland over the next 12 months.

The survey is designed to help track the current extent of infection and transmission of Covid-19 among the community population – specifically private households.