Testing Figures

What are the figures for SARS-CoV-2 testing in the UK?

Like other COVID-19 figures, there are nuances in definitions for testing.

This article discusses measuring total tests and people tested in the UK.

Testing pillars

The UK government has four different ‘pillars’ of tests for SARS-CoV-2 and antibodies. This is the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease:

• Pillar 1: swab tests by Public Health England labs and NHS hospitals. These tests are for people with clinical need, to test if they have the virus.
• Pillar 2: swab testing of the wider community, if people have the virus.
• Pillar 3: antibody tests to show if people have already had SARS-CoV-2.
• Pillar 4: blood and swab testing for national surveillance. This is the pillar for tests by statisticians and academic partners, estimating prevalence.

There are counting differences between Wales and the other nations.

For the first pillar, there are different data sources for each nation:

• England: NHS England and Public Health England.
• Wales: Public Health Wales. This figure includes some community tests — where NHS labs process those tests.
• Scotland: the Scottish Government.
• Northern Ireland: Department of Health of Northern Ireland.