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UK to stop publishing Covid infection data from New Year
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that from Monday they will start treating Covid like other common viral illnesses such as seasonal flu as the country transitions towards the phase of 'living with the virus'
Starting next year, the UK will stop publishing its regular Covid infection data as the country transitions towards the phase of “living with the virus” while heavily relying on vaccines and medicines.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that from Monday they will start treating Covid like other common viral illnesses such as seasonal flu and stop publishing the data on the reproductive rate, or the R-value, which measures the speed at which the coronavirus infects people.
The R-value of the monitoring data has been published fortnightly as a monitoring tool.
“Now that vaccines and therapeutics have allowed us to move to a phase where we are living with COVID-19, with surveillance scaled down but still closely monitored through a number of different indicators, the publication of this specific data is no longer necessary,” Dr Nick Watkins, chair of the UKHSA Epidemiology Modelling Review Group (EMRG), said in a statement.
After witnessing a long period of ebb in Covid cases, England’s infection rate has been ticking up slightly.
As of Friday, the R range for England was 1-1.2. An R-value of greater than 1 indicates that COVID-19 cases are increasing. An R number of 2, for example, means a person with COVID-19 will infect two other people.
“All data publications are kept under constant review and this modelling data can be reintroduced promptly if needed, for example, if a new Variant of Concern was to be identified,” Watkins added.
UK will continue to publish its weekly flu and COVID-19 surveillance report and infection surveys, he said.
UK to stop publishing Covid infection data from New Year
London Edited By: C KrishnasaiUpdated: Dec 27, 2022, 04:12 AM ISTStory highlights
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that from Monday they will start treating Covid like other common viral illnesses such as seasonal flu as the country transitions towards the phase of 'living with the virus'
Starting next year, the UK will stop publishing its regular Covid infection data as the country transitions towards the phase of “living with the virus” while heavily relying on vaccines and medicines.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that from Monday they will start treating Covid like other common viral illnesses such as seasonal flu and stop publishing the data on the reproductive rate, or the R-value, which measures the speed at which the coronavirus infects people.
The R-value of the monitoring data has been published fortnightly as a monitoring tool.
“Now that vaccines and therapeutics have allowed us to move to a phase where we are living with COVID-19, with surveillance scaled down but still closely monitored through a number of different indicators, the publication of this specific data is no longer necessary,” Dr Nick Watkins, chair of the UKHSA Epidemiology Modelling Review Group (EMRG), said in a statement.
After witnessing a long period of ebb in Covid cases, England’s infection rate has been ticking up slightly.
As of Friday, the R range for England was 1-1.2. An R-value of greater than 1 indicates that COVID-19 cases are increasing. An R number of 2, for example, means a person with COVID-19 will infect two other people.
“All data publications are kept under constant review and this modelling data can be reintroduced promptly if needed, for example, if a new Variant of Concern was to be identified,” Watkins added.
UK will continue to publish its weekly flu and COVID-19 surveillance report and infection surveys, he said.