You asked
Could you provide a breakdown of the number of cases and deaths per COVID variant? The number of Indian variant, South African variant cases, Brazilian variant cases and Chinese variant cases currently active in the UK and also provide any information with regards to the tests that pick up on these variants that determine what variant is being picked up.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) is a household survey which refers to the number of current COVID-19 infections within the community population; community in this instance refers to private residential households and it excludes those in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings.
In the technical dataset accompanying our latest bulletin, you can find the gene patterns and Ct values of a sample of the positive tests returned by the participants in our study on tab 1a. Full genome sequencing is used to determine the potential variants of the positive tests returned by our participants.
In the same dataset, you can also find the modelled daily positivity rates estimates broken down by variant compatibility for all four UK nations and by region in England on tabs 1c and 1d respectively. You can also find the number of positive COVID-19 tests by genetic lineages seen in samples by week on tab 1e.
You may also be interested in the distribution of cases by variants of concern which is produced by Public Health England (PHE) using data from Test and Trace and not based on the COVID-19 Infection Survey data.
Our mortality data is derived from the death certificate, unfortunately the variant of COVID-19 involved is not recorded as part of the death registration process and therefore we do not hold the requested information. PHE may also be able to help with this query.