Research and analysis

Daily testing of contacts of COVID-19 cases: evaluation

Evaluation of the daily testing of contacts of COVID-19 (DTCC) programme.

• From: UK Health Security Agency
• Published: 5 December 2022

Applies to England

Documents

Evaluation of daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 cases (DTCC)

Ref: UKHSA publication gateway number GOV-13464

PDF, 1000 KB, 60 pages

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Supplementary paper – modelling the impact of daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 cases (DTCC)

PDF, 1.01 MB, 42 pages

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Details

This evaluation was developed rapidly alongside the launch of the daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 (DTCC). It served both as a mechanism for the collation and presentation of rapid insight to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) operational teams to monitor the launch of the new policy, and also as a longer-term investigation into its effectiveness.

The policy of DTCC was live during a period of high demand for lateral flow devices (LFDs), with supply often not keeping up with demand. There were several factors contributing to this demand, including high prevalence, other changes to testing policy and guidance and changes in testing behaviour over the Christmas period. The evidence gathered for this evaluation demonstrates that DTCC contributed to this demand.

The supplementary technical annexe to the full DTCC evaluation report describes the structure and outputs of a model developed to form part of the DTCC policy evaluation. This model was based on a decision-tree approach and is constructed using parameters from the wider findings of the evaluation, and where necessary specific data analyses and research from relevant literature. The model was designed to assess the theoretical difference between the 2 policies, and, as such, should not be considered an empirical assessment of the actual impact of the policies.

Published 5 December 2022