Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms his Department uses to measure daily covid-19 testing data; and how many tests his Department records on average each day.

Daily data on COVID-19 testing includes the numbers of new confirmed positive, negative or void test results for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and lateral flow device (LFD) tests. For PCR tests, data is recorded by the date the sample was collected from the individual and results are reported via the laboratory or facility processing the test. For LFD tests, data is also recorded by the date the sample was taken. However, LFD tests do not require laboratory processing and results are self-reported via GOV.UK or 119. Organisations may also report LFD test results directly via the Point of Care Testing portal.

The Department holds data on virus tests reported in England over a rolling seven-day average. For the latest seven-day period ending 21 June 2022, the average number of tests reported daily was 199,350.3.