Weekly NHS Test and Trace bulletin, England: 11 to 17 June 2020
Published 25 June 2020
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NHS Test and Trace – week 3 of contact tracing, England: 11 to 17 June 2020
The data in the tables below reflect the first 3 weeks of operation of the contact tracing element of NHS Test and Trace. They include contact tracing undertaken:
- online
- by local health protection teams
- by contact tracing staff
Main points
NHS contact tracing went live on 28 May.
Between 11 June and 17 June 2020:
- 6,129 people tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) under pillars 1 and 2 in England
- 6,923 people had their case transferred to the contact tracing system[footnote 1]
- of these, 4,869 people (70.3%) were reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts. 3,633 people (74.6%) provided details for one or more recent close contacts and 1,236 people (25.4%) said that they had no recent close contacts
- 1,791 people (25.9%) could not be reached. An additional 263 people (3.8%) could not be reached at all because no communications details were provided for them
As a result of this, between 11 June and 17 June 2020, 30,286 people were identified as close contacts. Of these, 24,734 people (81.7%) were reached and asked to self-isolate.
In total, since 28 May 2020:
- 21,105 people tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) under pillars 1 and 2
- Of these, 20,968 (99.4%) people had their case transferred to the contact tracing system, of whom 15,225 people (72.6%) were reached and asked to provide details of their recent close contacts
- 113,925 (88.6%) people were identified as recent close contacts and reached through the contract tracing system out of 128,566 people reported
Terminology
People in England who have a positive coronavirus (COVID-19) test are transferred to NHS Test and Trace. These are people who were tested under pillar 1 or pillar 2 of the government testing strategy[footnote 2]:
- pillar 1: swab testing in Public Health England (PHE) labs and NHS hospitals for those with a clinical need, and health and care workers
- pillar 2: swab testing for the wider population, through commercial partnerships
NHS Test and Trace has 2 ways of handling cases depending on their complexity:
- local health protection teams to manage complex cases linked to outbreaks (referred to as complex cases hereafter)[footnote 4]
- wider online and other call centre capacity for less complex cases (referred to as non-complex cases hereafter)
More details on the types of case can be found in the methodology document.
Revisions for the publication from 4 to 10 June
Note that figures for contact tracing in the previous release have been revised. These revisions are because the figures presented are based on a data cut several days after the end of the reporting period, to give time for cases reported towards the end of the 7-day period to have an outcome.
Some cases may continue to be in progress after this period, and therefore data may need to be revised over time.
The methodology note gives more detail about this.
Test and Trace: number of people who tested positive for coronavirus that were transferred to the contact tracing system
Figure 1: Flowchart showing how people move through the NHS Test and Trace service
Between 11 June and 17 June, 6,129 people tested positive under pillars 1 and 2
Table 1: People testing positive for COVID-19 under pillars 1 and 2, England
| 11 June to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | Since start of Test and Trace, 28 May to 17 June: Number of people (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar 1 | 1,886 (30.8%) | 6,815 (32.3%) |
| Pillar 2 | 4,243 (69.2%) | 14,290 (67.7%) |
| Total | 6,129 | 21,105 |
When combined, pillar 1 and pillar 2 give the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the given time period and these people should all have had their cases transferred to the contact tracing system.[footnote 5]
The number of positive cases transferred to the contact tracing system since the 28 May is slightly lower than this number due to the time between a sample being taken, tested and reported, and being passed from PHE to the contact tracing system.[footnote 6]
Note that these figures do not align with other published figures for people testing positive for COVID-19 under pillars 1 and 2. This is due to:
- differences in the date used for someone testing positive (this release uses the date the specimen was taken)
- differences in the de-duplication method used
- differences in geography (this figure is for England rather than the UK)
More details on how these figures compare to other published figures is given in the methodology document.
Between 11 June and 17 June, around 7 in every 10 people transferred to the contact tracing system were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts
Table 2: People transferred to the contact tracing system (includes complex and non-complex cases) by whether they were reached and asked to provide contact details, England[footnote 7]
| 4 June to 10 June: number of people (percentage) | 11 June to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | Since start of Test and Trace, 28 May to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People who were reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts | 4,475 (75.2%) | 4,869 (70.3%) | 15,225 (72.6%) |
| People who were not reached | 1,326 (22.3%) | 1,791 (25.9%) | 5,062 (24.1%) |
| People whose communication details were not provided | 148 (2.5%) | 263 (3.8%) | 681 (3.2%) |
| Total | 5,949 | 6,923 | 20,968 |
Figure 2: Proportion of people transferred to the contact tracing system (includes complex and non-complex cases) by whether they were reached and asked to provide contact details, England, 28 May to 17 June 2020[footnote 8]
| Percentage | Week 3: 11 June to 17 June 2020 | Total since start of Test and Trace |
|---|---|---|
| Reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts | 70.3% | 72.6% |
| Not reached | 25.9% | 24.1% |
| Communication details not provided | 3.8% | 3.2% |
After a person’s coronavirus test is confirmed as positive, they will be transferred to the contact tracing system to be contacted. The number of these people who were reached and provided details of recent close contacts includes complex cases investigated by local public health teams and people who said that they had no recent close contacts.
People who had no communication details provided are those people for whom there were no contact details (for example phone number or email address). This information is only available for people whose cases were non-complex and handled through the contact tracing system, because those handled by local public health teams are managed at a situation rather than individual level.
The number of people who were not reached includes those people who the service has been unable to reach because there has been no response to text, email and call reminders. It also includes people who were reached but declined to give details of close contacts. There may also be a small number of people who have not been reached but where contact tracers are still in the process of trying to make contact.
Between 11 June and 17 June almost three-quarters of people who were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, provided one or more close contacts
Table 3: People transferred to the contact tracing system (includes complex and non-complex cases) who were reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts by how many contacts they provided details for, England
| 11 June to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | Since start of Test and Trace, 28 May to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| People who provided details of one or more close contacts | 3,633 (74.6%) | 10,058 (66.1%) |
| People who were not able to give any recent close contacts | 1,236 (25.4%) | 5,167 (33.9%) |
| Total | 4,869 | 15,225 |
Not everyone who was reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts will have had any recent close contacts. The number who were not able to give any recent close contacts therefore refers to people who were successfully reached by NHS Test and Trace, but could not provide details of close recent contacts to pass on for further contact tracing (for example, recent close contact with strangers on the bus).
Figure 3: Proportion of people transferred to the contact tracing system (includes complex and non-complex cases) who were reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts by how many contacts they provided details for, England, 28 May to June 17 2020
| Percentage | Week 3: 11 June 2020 to 17 June 2020 | Total since start of Test and Trace |
|---|---|---|
| Provided contact details for one or more close contacts | 74.6% | 66.1% |
| Not able to give any close contacts | 25.4% | 33.9% |
For non-complex cases most people continued to be successfully reached and asked to provide details about recent close contacts within 24 hours of their case being transferred to contact tracing
Figure 4: Proportion of people who were reached and asked to provide details about recent close contacts by time taken to reach them, England, 28 May to 17 June 2020, this excludes complex cases
| Percentage | Week 3: 11 June to 17 June 2020 | Total since start of Test and Trace |
|---|---|---|
| After 72 hours | 8.6% | 8.8% |
| Between 48 hours and 72 hours | 5.4% | 3.9% |
| Between 24 hours and 48 hours | 16.0% | 13.6% |
| Within 24 hours | 69.9% | 73.8% |
Table 4: People who were reached and asked to provide details about recent close contacts by time taken to do so, England, 4 June to 17 June 2020, this excludes complex cases
| 4 June to 10 June: Number of people (percentage) | 11 June to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | Since start of Test and Trace, 28 May to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within 24 hours | 2,785 (77.0%) | 3,070 (69.9%) | 9,166 (73.8%) |
| Between 24 and 48 hours | 391 (10.8%) | 704 (16.0%) | 1,692 (13.6%) |
| Between 48 and 72 hours | 135 (3.7%) | 238 (5.4%) | 479 (3.9%) |
| After 72 hours | 305 (8.4%) | 378 (8.6%) | 1,090 (8.8%) |
| Total | 3,616 | 4,390 | 12,427 |
Number of recent close contacts identified through the contact tracing system
Close contacts are those people who have been identified as being in recent close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.
Table 5: Number of people identified as recent close contacts by whether they were reached and asked to self-isolate, England, 28 May to 17 June 2020. Includes contacts related to both complex and non-complex cases.
| 4 June to 10 June: number of people (percentage) | 11 June to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | Since start of Test and Trace, 28 May to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People who were identified as recent close contacts and asked to self-isolate | 41,648 (90.9%) | 24,734 (81.7%) | 113,925 (88.6%) |
| People who were identified as recent close contacts but not reached | 4,192 (9.1%) | 5,552 (18.3%) | 14,641 (11.4%) |
| Total | 45,840 | 30,286 | 128,566 |
Of the people who were identified as recent close contacts but not reached, some of these could not be reached because no communication details were provided for them (for example a phone number or email address). This information is only available for those recent close contacts related to non-complex cases. This data is not available for recent close contacts relating to complex cases because these are usually managed at a situation (for example care home) rather than individual level.
Out of all the non-complex contacts that were identified between 11 June and 17 June (11,107 contacts), 2,759 (24.8%) did not have communication details. Out of all the non-complex contacts that were identified between 28 may to 17 June (30,002 contacts) 7,390 (24.6%) did not have communication details.
The number who were not reached also includes those people who the service has been unable to reach because there has been no response to text, email and call reminders, or those for which no contact details were provided to NHS Test and Trace (for example, phone number or email address). Further, there are some contacts who were reached but have not agreed to self-isolate.
Figure 5: Proportion of recent close contacts identified by whether they were reached and asked to self-isolate, England, 28 May to 17 June 2020. Includes contacts related to both complex and non-complex cases.
| Percentage | Week 3: 11 June to 17 June 2020 | Total since Test and Trace launched |
|---|---|---|
| Reached and asked to self-isolate | 81.7% | 88.6% |
| Not reached | 18.3% | 11.4% |
For non-complex cases, where recent close contacts have been advised to self-isolate, more than 4 out of 5 of them were reached within 24 hours of being identified
Figure 6: Proportion of recent close contacts who were advised to self-isolate by time taken to reach them, England, 28 May to 17 June 2020. This does not include complex cases
| Percentage | Week 3: 11 June to 17 June 2020 | Total since start of Test and Trace |
|---|---|---|
| After 72 hours | 2.8% | 2.4% |
| Between 48 hours and 72 hours | 3.5% | 3.0% |
| Between 24 hours and 48 hours | 12.0% | 10.7% |
| Within 24 hours | 81.8% | 83.9% |
Table 6: People identified as recent close contacts who were advised to self-isolate by time taken to reach them England, 4 June to 17 June 2020. This excludes complex cases.
| 4 June to 10 June: Number of people (percentage) | 11 June to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | Since start of Test and Trace, 28 May to 17 June: number of people (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within 24 hours | 4,059 (85.8%) | 4,738 (81.8%) | 13,268 (83.9%) |
| Between 24 and 48 hours | 438 (9.3%) | 696 (12.0%) | 1,684 (10.7%) |
| Between 48 and 72 hours | 108 (2.3%) | 201 (3.5%) | 477 (3.0%) |
| After 72 hours | 125 (2.6%) | 160 (2.8%) | 383 (2.4%) |
| Total | 4,730 | 5,795 | 15,812 |
Measuring the data
How the data were collected
These data are collected from management information from the NHS Test and Trace service. More details about the methodology used can be found in the methodology.
Future development
Over June these data will be integrated with those from other parts of NHS Test and Trace, particularly testing, to provide an end-to-end view of the service that follows the user journey. So far, pillar 1 and pillar 2 testing data has been added and it’s planned that future releases will extend this to include both the numbers of people engaged and the speed of the journey through the service, including data on test turnaround times.
The intention is for the NHS Test and Trace service to publish weekly statistics. In addition, NHS Test and Trace will provide information for local authorities and their partners so that they have the information they need to help contain any outbreaks.
In time, NHS Test and Trace intends to publish detailed data from across the programme to support secondary analysis, for example in academic institutions. Over the coming weeks, as the service matures, more information will be provided on a weekly basis.
Further breakdowns of complex and non-complex cases are not currently given as NHS Test and Trace is a single service and some cases are first dealt with as non-complex cases before being escalated. More informative breakdowns are being developed for future releases.
Quality
These statistics have been put together by NHS Test and Trace with advice from the Office for National Statistics.
More information on quality and how this publication adheres to the Code of Practice for Statistics is available in the statement of compliance.
Strengths and limitations
Given the importance of this service and the commitment of NHS Test and Trace to be open and transparent with the public it serves, these data are being released at the earliest possible opportunity.
However, new IT systems and statistical outputs often take a period of time to bed in. These data should therefore be treated with caution as the system and understanding of the data develops.
The figures presented are based on a data cut 6 days after the end of the reporting period, to give time for cases reported at the end of the 7-day period to have an outcome. Some cases may continue to be in progress after this period, and therefore data may need to be revised over time.
Feedback
For feedback and questions about the release, please contact statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.
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Between 11 and 17 June, more people were transferred to the contact tracing system than tested positive because this includes some cases from the previous week. This is a result of the time between a sample being taken, tested and reported and being passed from Public Health England (PHE) to the contact tracing system. ↩
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People tested under pillar 3 (serology testing to show if people have antibodies from having had COVID-19) and pillar 4 (serology and swab testing for national surveillance) do not have their cases transferred to NHS Test and Trace. ↩
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For example, if someone works in or has recently visited a health or care setting, such as a hospital or care home; a prison or other secure setting; a school for people with special needs; critical national infrastructure or areas vital for national security ↩
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Figures for people testing positive have been de-duplicated so people who have multiple tests in both pillars 1 and 2 would only appear once. ↩
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The number of people testing positive in pillar 1 may also include people tested anonymously as part of surveillance studies, and therefore will not have their case transferred to contact tracing. ↩
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Between 11 and 17 June, more people were transferred to the contact tracing system than tested positive because this includes some cases from the previous week. This is a result of the time between a sample being taken, tested and reported and being passed from PHE to the contact tracing system. ↩
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Data has been split to show those cases whose communication details were not provided. Previous publication included cases where communication details not provided under ‘Not reached and asked to provide contact details’. Numbers have been revised for previous weeks to account for new methodology. ↩