Transparency data

Weekly statistics for NHS Test and Trace (England): 17 December to 23 December

Updated 5 January 2021

Applies to England

Reporting for 24 and 31 December

On 24 December and 31 December, a full statistical bulletin is not available and instead a reduced commentary detailing the main points can be found below.

Alongside this publication all standard data tables for NHS Test and Trace are available on the weekly collection page. This includes data tables for NHS Test and Trace, regional contact tracing, demographic and regional information for people tested and people testing positive and pillar 2 tests conducted.

NHS Test and Trace will return to a standard reporting from 7 January. For more information on the statistics detailed below see the NHS Test and Trace statistics methodology document.

Main points

Testing in England

People tested, England

2,398,512 people were tested at least once in England between 17 December and 23 December for COVID-19^{[footnote 1]}, a 20% increase compared to the previous week.

232,169 people tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) at least once^{[footnote 1]} in England between 17 December and 23 December. The number of people testing positive has increased over the past 3 weeks. The number this week has increased by 33% compared to the previous week.

A total of 16,436,384 people have been tested at least once since testing began and 1,728,898 people have tested positive for COVID-19^{[footnote 2]} at least once^{[footnote 3]} during the same period^{[footnote 4]}.

Pillars 1 and 2 testing turnaround times, England

Between 17 December and 23 December, 93.0% of pillar 1 test results were made available within 24 hours. This has remained broadly consistent since Test and Trace began.

Turnaround times for pillar 2 (virus testing for the wider population) for all in-person testing routes^{[footnote 5]} got shorter between mid-October and the beginning of December, however they have notably increased in the latest 2 weeks. Turnaround times for satellite and home tests have increased over the past 3 weeks after decreasing between October and the start of December.

For all routes combined, 9.6% of tests from all test sites were received within 24 hours of a test being taken. If we consider the day the test was taken, 26.2% of tests results were received the next day after the test was taken compared to 37.1% the previous week.

In the most recent week, for in-person tests (local test sites, mobile testing units and regional test sites), 16.9% were received within 24 hours. If we consider the day the test was taken, 45.0% of in-person tests results were received the next day after the test was taken compared to 61.0% the previous week.

For satellite test centres, 66.7% were received within 3 days after the day they were taken compared to 91.1% in the previous week. In the most recent week, approximately 86% of tests from satellite test centres were care home tests, and removing the 14% of tests from other sites slightly increases the percentage of tests received within 3 days after the test was taken to 67.7%.

Distance to in-person testing sites for booked tests, pillar 2, England

Between 17 December and 23 December, the median distance was 2.8 miles, a slight increase from 2.3 miles in the previous week.

Contact tracing in England

Positive cases transferred to NHS Test and Trace

211,914 people were transferred to the contact tracing system in the latest week, an increase of 52% compared to the previous week. The number of people transferred is over 23 times higher than the number transferred at the end of August.

Of the people transferred, 181,910 (85.8%) were reached, 27,178 (12.8%) were not reached and 2,826 (1.3%) had not provided communication details. The proportion of people reached has decreased compared to the previous week when 88.6% of people were reached. Since Test and Trace launched, 85.0% of all cases have been reached.

Of the cases reached which were not managed by local health protection teams (HPTs) between 17 December and 23 December, 78,450 (44.2%) were reached online and 98,846 (55.8%) were reached via the phone. Since Test and Trace began, 39.8% were reached online and 60.2% were reached by phone.

In the most recent week, the median number of contacts provided per case managed by local HPTs was 6.5, a decrease from 11 in the previous week. For cases not managed by local HPTs the median was 2, and this has been approximately constant since the start of Test and Trace.

Between 17 December and 23 December, 80.2% of cases transferred (142,131) were reached within 24 hours, compared to 77.1% in the previous week. The proportion of people reached within 24 hours has increased overall since mid-October.  

Close contacts identified by NHS Test and Trace

Between 17 December and 23 December, 407,603 people were identified as recent close contacts, of which 377,459 (92.6%) were reached and told to self-isolate and 30,144 (7.4%) were not reached. Considering only the contacts where communication details were provided, 96.4% were reached and told to self-isolate in the most recent week. This has remained constant for the past two weeks.

Since Test and Trace launched 84.7% of close contacts for whom contact details were provided have been reached.

Of the contacts reached who were not managed by local HPTs, and who weren’t a household contact told to self-isolate by their case, between 17 December and 23 December, 37,180 (54.2%) were reached online and 31,446 (45.8%) were reached via the phone^{[footnote 6]}.

Between 17 December and 23 December, 97.8% of contacts who weren’t managed by local HPTs were reached and told to self-isolate within 24 hours of being identified compared to 97.5% in the previous week.

NHS COVID-19 app in England and Wales

As of 23 December, the app has been downloaded 20,917,303 times and 777,961 QR posters have been generated through the GOV.UK coronavirus QR poster service. These figures cover both England and Wales.

Further Information

The purpose of this publication is to provide a weekly update on the implementation and performance of NHS Test and Trace in England and Testing in the UK. Data collected for NHS Test and Trace is primarily for operational purposes and was not designed to track the spread of the virus. Studies into the spread of the virus in the UK are carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). A full explanation of the data sources, terminology and methods used to produce these statistics can be found in the additional NHS Test and Trace statistics methodology document.

For feedback and any further questions, please contact statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.

1. Deduplicated for the reporting week. For information on how the number of people are tested and tested positive in a reporting week is measured see the NHS Test and Trace statistics methodology. ↩ ↩²

2. Includes a small number of people who had a test under pillar 4 (serology and virus testing for national surveillance). ↩

3. Deduplicated since testing began and the end of the most recent reporting week. People testing positive multiple times in this time period will only be counted once. See NHS Test and Trace statistics methodology for more information. ↩

4. Note that these figures may not always align with other published figures for people tested and people tested positive for COVID-19 under pillars 1 and 2 due to the timing of data cuts. ↩

5. Based on the median turnaround time for in-person tests. ↩

6. The number of contacts reached by the phone and online will not sum to the total number of contacts reached not managed by local HPTs. This is because household contacts where the case has told them to self-isolate are not included, and for some contacts the tracing route is unknown ↩