You asked
How come the governments covid19 figures from this website, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notifiable-diseases-weekly-reports-for-2020, doesn't match your figures? Where do you get the figures from?
We said
Thank you for your request.
The results published in our weekly bulletins and monthly articles are from the COVID-19 Infection Survey. This is a representative household survey which estimates the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in the community, with or without symptoms. Community in this instance refers to private residential households and it excludes those in hospitals, care homes and/or other institutional settings.
The survey has been running since April 2020 and we currently sample around 150,000 participants per fortnight. To test for the virus, we use real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing. At each study visit, we ask everyone aged 2 years or older in each household to have a nose and throat swab.
We use statistical modelling to estimate the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 at any point in time. The model adjusts the survey results to be more representative of the overall population in terms of age, sex and region. Please see the methodology guide for more information.
Data from the weekly notifications of infectious diseases (NOIDs) reports are based on registered medical practitioners in England and Wales notifying a proper officer of the local authority, of suspected cases of certain infectious diseases, including COVID-19. This data is published by Public Health England.