Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent the 'R' rate for COVID-19 includes an assessment of the number of people who self-treat at home with no hospital or emergency services intervention.

R is estimated by a number of independent modelling groups based at universities and Public Health England. Evidence from the different models is considered, discussed, combined, and then a consensus estimate is presented to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies as a range.

Individual modelling groups use a variety of different data sources to estimate R. This includes epidemiological data such as the number of hospital admissions and deaths, and surveys that gather information on the behaviour of individuals. The models include assumptions about numbers of individuals who require no health service intervention which are informed by a range of studies including household infection surveys.