FOI Ref: FOI/2021/2971
You asked
1) Please supply the evidence the government holds of the isolation (purification) of the COVID-19 virus.
2) Can you confirm if the COVID-19 virus has been isolated? Please state yes or no.
3) Please confirm how the PCR and Lateral flow Test can distinguish between the variants of the COVID-19 virus?
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.
We do not hold any data relating to the isolation of the Covid-19 virus. Your request may be better placed with the lighthouse lab in Glasgow.
In our survey, we only use RT-PCR testing to test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. This is an accredited test that is part of the national testing programme. A process called whole genome sequencing is used to read all letters of the virus' genetic material for every positive nose and throat swab with sufficient virus to do so (Ct less than 30). Where we successfully sequence over half of the genome, we use the sequence data to work out which type of variant is present in each virus. You can see the percentage of cases by gene pattern and Ct value, and by variant in the technical dataset accompanying our weekly bulletin.
You can find more information about this in our weekly bulletin and methods article.
For further information and an overview of all the data published across the ONS, please check our ONS COVID Insights Tool.