Covid PCR Test Positivity 7-day rolling averages reported up to: ↻UPDATE
0% _

Cover Note

The adjusted national average for England is calculated by replacing any weekly total from areas reporting null or 0% with the average of those reporting an up-to-date figure. Scotland's national average is unadjusted.

The values shown for each area on the map are the percentage of PCR tests taken within that area —usually in hospitals— that are positive. This data is fetched both from the UKHSA data.gov.uk API and from the Public Health Scotland opendata.nhs.scot API. The data made available there is usually updated every Thursday.

It is not a perfect indicator of local prevalence but, in the absence of better data and testing, it is the most reliable indicator we have.

As the value for each area is always for 4 days (Scotland) or 6 days (England) prior to each Thursday's data release, the map will fetch and present the incidence rate in the most recent available results relative to the specified date. For this reason, when you select a new date in the UI above and click “UPDATE”, we first coerce it to the date of the nearest data release to the date you selected, before then requesting test results for that period.

Please regard the map only as an indicator. If in England, you can check your area in more detail by clicking on the name of your area in the pop-up bubble. If in Scotland, the same link enables you to check the number of tests and positives in your area.

You will note that some areas are better at reporting tests than others. If your area is showing a null result —indicated by diagonally striped shading— please do check the data.gov.uk site.

You may notice that the map is divided into lower tier local authorities but coloured by upper tier local authority. Sadly, it is only the upper tier data that is made available via the UKHSA and Public Health Scotland APIs.

Also beware, if the rolling average is showing as zero, it may well be that your area has simply not reported for the last few days. In which case, looking back over the previous period will give you a better idea of the likely situation.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions to @skeuomorphology / @skeuomorphology.bsky.social / @skeuomorphology@mastodon.social.