This page is no longer being updated. The final weekly Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey release was published on 24 March 2023. Please search the ONS release calendar for the most recent ONS releases including long COVID.
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Long COVID
Around 1.9 million people in the UK were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of 5 March 2023
An estimated 1.9 million people in private households in the UK (2.9% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of 5 March 2023. Of those, around 9 in 10 (92%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 weeks previously. Over two-thirds (69%) reported experiencing long COVID symptoms for at least one year. Over one-third (41%) reported experiencing symptoms for at least two years.
The most common long COVID symptom continued to be fatigue (72% of those with self-reported long COVID), followed by difficulty concentrating (51%), muscle ache (49%), and shortness of breath (48%). Symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 1.5 million people, or 79% of those with self-reported long COVID, with 381,000 (20%) reporting that their day-to-day activities had been “limited a lot”.
Self-reported long COVID was more common in:
those aged 35 to 69 years
females
people living in more deprived areas
those working in social care
those aged 16 years and over and who were not working or not looking for work
those with another activity-limiting health condition or disability
There has been a change in the way the data are collected. As a result, these estimates cannot be compared with those published before 6 October 2022. For more details of these changes, see our Measuring the data section of the release.
Last updated: 30 March 2023
Read more about this in our Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK bulletin
Infections
COVID-19 infections increased in England and trends were uncertain in Wales and Scotland
Estimated percentage of the population testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) on nose and throat swabs, UK, 6 March 2022 to 13 March 2023
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COVID-19 infections increased in England (2.66%) and trends were uncertain in Wales (2.41%) and Scotland (2.59%) in the week ending 13 March 2023. Trends were uncertain in Northern Ireland (1.42%) in the week ending 7 March 2023.
There are higher levels of uncertainty in these latest estimates because of lower numbers of samples received. This higher level of uncertainty is shown by wider credible intervals. Details of potential bias in our latest estimates can be found in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: 24 March 2023 bulletin. For Northern Ireland the reference week is the same as last week, but estimates have been updated with additional test results received up to 7 March 2023. There were too few samples returned in Northern Ireland after 7th March 2023 to produce robust estimates.
Last updated: 24 March 2023
Read more about this in our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey bulletin
Infections by age
COVID-19 infections increased for most age groups in England
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In England, the infection rate increased for age groups from age 2 years to school Year 11, and those aged 50 years and over in the week ending 13 March 2023. The trends were uncertain for all other age groups.
Uncertainty around age group estimates is higher than for England overall.
Last updated: 24 March 2023
Read more about this in our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey bulletin
Infections by region
COVID-19 infection trends were uncertain for most English regions
Estimated coronavirus (COVID-19) positivity rates, overall COVID-19-positive hospital admission rates with intensive care unit (ICU) and high dependency unit (HDU) admissions, and number of deaths, by English regions, week ending 3 February to 19 March 2023
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In the week ending 13 March 2023, the infection rate increased in the North West, East Midlands and South East, and the trends were uncertain in the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, West Midlands, East of England, London, and South West.
Uncertainty around regional estimates is higher than for England overall.
In the week ending 19 March 2023, overall hospital admissions of patients with confirmed COVID-19 increased in the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands, London, South East and South West. In the same week, admission rates decreased in the West Midlands and East of England, and remained similar in the North West.
In the week ending 17 March 2023, deaths involving COVID-19 decreased in the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, London, and the South East. In the same week, deaths involving COVID-19 increased in the North West, East of England, and South West.
There is a delay between a person becoming infected with COVID-19 and being admitted to hospital or dying, and this is reflected in the lags in trends. Deaths figures are the number of deaths registered in the time period. The number of deaths in each region will be affected by population size and do not necessarily reflect the rate of deaths.
Last updated: 28 March 2023
The data used in the chart come from our Coronavirus Infection Survey, National flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports and our Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional bulletin.
The highest peaks for COVID-19 infections for all English regions were during the periods when the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants were dominant
Estimated percentage of the population testing positive for COVID-19 on nose and throat swabs by region, England, week ending 23 December 2021 to week ending 5 September 2022
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In the period when the Alpha variant was dominant (18 December 2020 to 15 May 2021), the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) peaked across all English regions in January 2021.
During the period when the Delta variant was dominant (22 May to 19 December 2021), the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 remained relatively high across all regions from July to December 2021. The North East was the first English region to reach its peak COVID-19 positivity (3.20% on 21 July 2021). It was 13 October 2021 before another English region reached its peak positivity estimate (2.24% in the North West).
During the period when the Omicron BA.1 variant was dominant (20 December 2021 to 1 March 2022), London was the English region that had the first peak in COVID-19 positivity (8.79% on 28 December 2021). All other English regions reached their peaks in January and February 2022. In the period when the Omicron BA.2 variant was dominant (2 March to 15 June 2022), all English regions peaked at around 7% to 9%, in the 14 days between 23 March and 6 April 2022.
During the period when the:
Alpha variant was dominant, peak positivity across the regions ranged from approximately 1.5% to 3.0%
Delta variant was dominant, peak positivity across the regions ranged from approximately 2.0% to 3.5%
Omicron BA.1 variant was dominant, peak positivity across the regions ranged from approximately 5% to 10%
Omicron BA.2 variant was dominant, peak positivity across the regions ranged from approximately 7% to 9%
Across regions, sub-regions and time periods, different factors have influenced COVID-19 positivity estimates, such as restrictions in place at the time. This analysis does not account for all of these factors, and therefore should not be considered as providing statistical evidence for differences in positivity estimates.
Last updated: 12 January 2023
Read more about this in our Regional and sub-regional estimates of coronavirus (COVID-19) positivity over time article
Sub-regional COVID-19 positivity over time
Modelled percentage of the population testing positive for COVID-19 on nose and throat swabs by sub-regional geography, UK, 8 November 2020 to 5 September 2022
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Modelled estimates for sub-regions of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland over time, from 8 November 2020 to 5 September 2022.
Reference weeks have sometimes varied between UK countries. Additionally, because of low levels of infection, it has not always been possible to provide sub-regional estimates for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, resulting in gaps in estimates over time. Sub-regional areas are defined by pooling local authorities together; for further information, refer to our methodology article.
Last updated: 12 January 2023
Read more about this in our Regional and sub-regional estimates of coronavirus (COVID-19) positivity over time article
Total people infected
The estimated percentages of people infected with COVID-19 was higher during the Omicron variant periods
The estimated percentages of people infected with COVID-19 in each separate period when different variants were most common, are:
7.0% in the pre-Alpha period (26 April until 7 December 2020)
8.1% in the Alpha period (8 December 2020 until 17 May 2021)
24.2% in the Delta period (18 May until 13 December 2021)
33.6% in the BA.1 period (14 December 2021 until 21 February 2022)
43.6% in the in BA.2 period (22 February until 6 June 2022)
46.5% in the BA.4 or BA.5 period (7 June until 11 November 2022)
This data is from the Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS) which started on 26 April 2020. We do not account for infections before the start of the survey, that is before 26 April 2020 and, therefore, underestimate the true cumulative incidence in the pre-Alpha period. The total number of people infected with COVID-19 is estimated separately in each time period and may include people who have been previously infected with COVID-19.
Last updated: 9 February 2023
Read more about this in our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey: Cumulative incidence, in England, 09 February 2023 technical article
Young people more likely to have been infected during the Delta variant period
The percentage of people who have had COVID-19 across all variants and age groups
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This analysis estimates the percentage of people who have been infected with coronavirus (COVID-19) at least once during each variant period. In the Delta period (18 May to 13 December 2021) more people were infected with COVID-19 than when compared with earlier variant periods. This was especially for those of younger age groups with 55.1% of 12- to 16-year-olds being infected with COVID-19 in the Delta period. This is in contrast with only 8.2% of those aged 70 years and over.
This data are from the Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS) which started on 26 April 2020. We do not account for infections before the start of the survey, that is before 26 April 2020 and, therefore, underestimate the true cumulative incidence in the pre-Alpha period. The total number of people infected with COVID-19 is estimated separately in each time period and may include people who have been previously infected with COVID-19.
Last updated: 9 February 2023
Read more about this in our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey: Cumulative incidence, in England, 09 February 2023 technical article
Reinfections
Most reinfections happened during the period when the Omicron variants were dominant
Percentage of first and second coronavirus infections by period in which different variants were dominant, UK, 2 July 2020 to 23 November 2022
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Of all identified second infections between 2 July 2020 and 23 November 2022, the majority (93.9%) have been in the period when the Omicron variants were dominant. The Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants have accounted for just under half (48.2%) of all identified second infections.
Of all second infections, 35.5% had first infections when the Alpha variant was dominant, 33.2% had first infections when the Delta variant was dominant, and 31.3% had first infections when the Omicron variants were dominant.
We define the Alpha period as prior to 17 May 2021 and the Delta period as 17 May to 19 December 2021. We define the period when the Omicron BA.1 variant was dominant as 20 December 2021 to 1 March 2022, the period when the Omicron BA.2 variant was dominant as 2 March to 15 June 2022, and the period when the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants were dominant as 16 June 2022 onwards. These are the periods during which these respective variants were most common. Other variants were in circulation during these times.
Last updated: 14 December 2022
Find the data in our Coronavirus Infection Survey, characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19, UK: 14 December 2022 dataset
Further information
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS) estimates the number of infections in the community population excluding people in hospitals, care homes and other institutional settings. People are randomly selected and tested regardless of whether they are experiencing symptoms. Positivity rates are modelled estimates adjusted to represent the whole UK population. NHS Test and Trace data only refer to people who have taken and reported test results. Unlike CIS estimates, this data is affected by testing capacity and changes in government policy over time.
To find out more about infections data from different sources visit our more information page.
Related links
- Visit our cost of living latest insights tool to find out the latest data and trends about the cost of living.