Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the (a) level of transmission of covid-19 and (b) possible emergence of new variants in the context of fewer people testing for covid-19.

Data held on the level of transmission of COVID-19 continues to be published daily on the United Kingdom Coronavirus Dashboard and a summary can also be found in the weekly National flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports. Data suggests that the proportion of people testing positive for COVID-19 has increased nationally. The number of new cases of COVID-19 detected in those aged 60 years old and above is also increasing and these groups are the most at risk of hospital admission.

Since the cessation of mandatory testing, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continues to undertake regular monitoring of UK and international genomic data to detect and characterise new variants. In the UK, this includes data from routine testing and surveillance studies, with variant evaluation based on data from multiple sources. The Omicron BA.2 variant is now the most common variant in England. This data is published via variant technical documents published by the UKHSA. The latest epidemiological and healthcare data remains under constant review.