You asked
Please answer the following:
1.Please can you tell me the budget/cost for all staff in UK working on house-to-house PCR testing collection since the start date of this project?
1a. What was the start date?
1b. When is the end date?
2. Please advise what cycles are being used for these PCR tests -- I understand it 45 cycles?
3. I understand that staff have been employed to collect PCR tests house to house and the persons submitting such tests are paid between £25 per test and £50 per test. Please can I have the start date of this survey?
3a. Total cost to date paid to all persons in the UK taking part in this testing/survey since it started
3b. I understand that several people in one household can be paid to take the PCR test -- please advise the max number of people per household who could be asked to take such tests they get paid for.
4. How many tests have been done since the start date?
5. How many have been positive?
6. How many persons visited at home have been asked to take the test more than once? How often? What is maximum number of times a person in a household is asked to take such PCR tests?
We said
Thank you for your request. Please see the following answers to your questions.
1.Please can you tell me the budget/cost for all staff in UK working on house-to-house PCR testing collection since the start date of this project?
PCR testing is carried out by a supplier on behalf of the ONS. Therefore, we do not hold their staff payment details. However, we would like to note that the contract with that supplier does stipulate that employment legislation must be adhered to at all times.
1a. What was the start date?
The CIS Survey started on 26 April 2020.
1b. When is the end date?
The current contract runs until 31 March 2022.
2. Please advise what cycles are being used for these PCR tests -- I understand it 45 cycles?
The PCR test doesn't have a fixed cycle threshold (Ct) used to define positivity; it uses machine learning and artificial to directly analyse the specific amplification curves for each gene target. Anything that is called positive on only one gene with Ct>30 is reviewed manually -- the vast majority of Ct values are under 35, although we do have a small number of positives with Ct values up to 37-38 (all reviewed manually).
The standard information in all the academic papers on https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/covid-19/covid-19-infection-survey/results/longer-articles is
"Combined nose and throat swabs were tested at high-throughput national "Lighthouse" laboratories in Glasgow (from 16 August 2020 to present) and Milton Keynes (from 26 April 2020 to 8 February 2021). The presence of three SARS-CoV-2 genes (ORF1ab, nucleocapsid protein (N), and spike protein (S)) was identified using real-time PCR with the TaqPath RT-PCR COVID-19 kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific). PCR outputs were analysed using UgenTec Fast Finder 3.300.5 (TaqMan 2019-nCoV Assay Kit V2 UK NHS ABI 7500 v2.1; UgenTec), with an assay-specific algorithm and decision mechanism that allows conversion of amplification assay raw data into test results with minimal manual intervention. Samples were called positive if at least a single N and/or ORF1ab gene were detected, and PCR traces exhibited an appropriate morphology. The S gene alone is not considered to be a reliable positive."
3. I understand that staff have been employed to collect PCR tests house to house and the persons submitting such tests are paid between £25 per test and £50 per test. Please can I have the start date of this survey?
The start date of the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) was 26 April 2020 as advised in question 1.
Please not, our participants are not paid. Each participant receives a voucher as compensation for their time and contribution to the survey and these vouchers are only issued once a completed test has been concluded. Participants receive a £50 voucher for their first enrolment visit and a £25 voucher for every visit thereafter.
3a. Total cost to date paid to all persons in the UK taking part in this testing/survey since it started?
Total costs of vouchers to date that have been redeemed by our participants is £126.8m
3b. I understand that several people in one household can be paid to take the PCR test -- please advise the max number of people per household who could be asked to take such tests they get paid for?
As answered in question 3, our participants are not paid, they receive a voucher as compensation for their time and contribution to the survey.
There is no maximum, the definition of a resident is:
A 'resident' is defined as a person who typically stays overnight in the address at least 4 nights out of 7.
The definition of a household is:
A 'household' is defined as one person living alone; or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area.
4. How many tests have been done since the start date?
Between 26/4/2020-7/8/2021, 5,130,318 study PCR results were available from 484,317 participants; 34,494 (0.67%) test results were SARS-CoV-2-positive.
5. How many have been positive?
The percentage of tests that are positive varies strongly over calendar time, making overall estimates difficult to interpret. As an example, from 26 April 2020 to 7 August 2021 5,130,318 study PCR results were available from 484,317 participants; 34,494 (0.67%) were SARS-CoV-2-positive. But positivity rates have varied from under 0.1% to nearly 2% fortnight by fortnight. The number of tests done and the number of positives in the last 2 and the last 6 weeks is provided in the reference tables accompanying every bulletin.
6. How many persons visited at home have been asked to take the test more than once? How often? What is maximum number of times a person in a household is asked to take such PCR tests?
Every participant in our survey is swabbed once; participants are also invited to have repeat tests every week for the first five weeks as well as monthly for a period of either 12 months in total or to the end of the study (currently 31 March 2022). Participants can select which of these options they prefer. For more information on the data survey design, please consult our methods article and our study protocol https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/covid-19/covid-19-infection-survey/protocol-and-information-sheets
For further information and an overview of all the data published across the ONS, please check our ONS COVID Insights Tool.