Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data on covid-19 would be required and what criteria would need to be met for him to recommend an exit from the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown restrictions in England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Decisions on tiers are made by Ministers based on public health recommendations from senior clinical and scientific advisors, guided by five key indicators - the case detection rate in all age groups, case detection rates among the over 60 year olds, the rate at which case rates are rising or falling, positivity rate and pressures on the National Health Service. Final decisions on tiering are made by the COVID-19 Operations Committee.
As of 6 January, all areas have moved into tier 4 and the Government will review the tiering allocations every 14 days.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the (a) latest and (c) most accurate estimates of the proportion of the population that has covid-19 infection as at 21 October 2020; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the methodology used on differing estimates on covid-19 infection.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The proportion of the population that are infected with the COVID-19 virus is measured through a number of surveillance studies including the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) and the REACT-1 real-time assessment of community transmission of coronavirus study. Both studies provide an estimate of people with COVID-19 infection in the community at a given time – those with symptoms and those without.
Estimates of the population in England that were infected with the COVID-19 virus in October 2020 are as follows:
- CIS - 1.42% (25 October to 31 October); and
- REACT-1 1.28% (16 October – 25 October)
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to publish salient trial data for covid-19 vaccine candidates and any risk-based or other analyses of them that might be used toward any marketing authorisation, with sufficient time for review prior to any authorisation being given for a candidate’s marketing in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data or clinical study reports from clinical trials of new medicines are not published before authorisation or prior to trial completion due to commercial confidentiality and concern that publication may influence or bias the on-going trial. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) performs a thorough and robust assessment of clinical trial data together with non-clinical data and manufacturing and control data submitted as part of a Marketing Authorisation Application.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of tests reported as positive for covid-19 were in respect of people who have taken more than one test at the same time in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of whether the proportion of such positive tests conducted in that way has changed since the start of the outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The people tested measure for United Kingdom statistics was initially used to avoid counting one person tested several times in a short space of time.
Many people are now retested multiple times for valid reasons, such as regular testing of health and care workers over several months. This means that the ‘tests processed’ figure, which we have published since 4 July 2020, is a better measure of the scale of the testing service.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of positive tests for covid-19 infection as recorded by (a) different health and social care organisations and (b) the Office for National Statistics are confirmed by subsequent positive tests before being reported as positive tests.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not publish the information requested. However, all organisations performing tests are aware that they should follow the industry best practice for pathology testing and ensure they meet all the legal and regulatory obligations required for testing for COVID-19.
Under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010, it is a legal requirement to report positive cases of COVID-19 to Public Health England.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of positive covid-19 tests reported in England relates to people who have been reported as testing positive for covid-19 previously.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportions of positive tests for covid-19 reported in England have been undertaken by (a) the polymerase chain reaction method and (b) other methods; and how have those proportions changed since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of covid-19 tests are undertaken using the PCR process; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) variation in number of amplification cycles in the PCR testing used to identify a positive covid-19 test result.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what methodology and data his Department uses to calculate the R reproduction rates of covid-19 transmission for local authority areas of England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Individual modelling groups use a range of data to estimate growth rates and ‘R’ values, including:
- epidemiological data such as testing data, hospital admissions, intensive care unit admissions and deaths;
- contact pattern surveys that gather information on behaviour; and
- household infection surveys where swabs are performed on individuals.
Different modelling groups use different data sources to estimate these values using mathematical models that simulate the spread of infections. Some may even use all these sources of information to adjust their models to better reflect the real-world situation. Estimates can vary between different models, so evidence from several models is considered, discussed, combined and the growth rate and ‘R’ is then presented as ranges.
Rounding and differences between the data streams used in these individual model outputs that are combined account for differences between estimates of ‘R’ and estimated growth rates. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies calculates ‘R’ at United Kingdom, devolved administration and at NHS England regional levels. It does not produce estimates for local authority areas.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the roll out of mass rapid testing for covid-19 over the next month on the number of positive tests being reported.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our mass testing pilot in Liverpool continues and will help inform any future rollout of large-scale population testing. We are now rolling out this localised approach to other areas. Eighty three local authorities have now signed up to receive regular batches of these new lateral flow tests, which can allow for results in minutes.