One in 24 people in Scotland are likely to have tested positive for Covid-19 since mid-December, new figures suggest.With infection levels rising, this figure is up from one in 50 at the start of the month and also applies in England.
Findings have been published in the new winter Covid-19 infection study which aims to monitor its prevalence over the next few months.It is a smaller version of the UK-wide infection survey that tracked each wave on a weekly basis for nearly three years.
This study will be condensed to Scotland and England, publishing new estimates every fortnight.The latest figures suggest that 4.2 per cent of people in private households in England and Scotland are likely to have tested positive for coronavirus on December 13, the equivalent of around 2.5 million people or one in 24 .This is up from 2.0 per cent, or around one in 50 people, on December 1 and 1.5 per cent, or one in 66, on November 14.The study is being run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and is based on data collected from around 150,000 individuals.
Participants use lateral flow devices to test for Covid-19 and then report the results to the ONS, with each person asked to test once a month during a scheduled seven-day period.Estimates of infection levels in the new study cannot be compared with figures from the previous survey, because the two studies use different methods of testing and compiling the data.
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