Summary
This report presents the prevalence of COVID-19 as captured in primary care in England. Testing was not as widely available at the start of the pandemic, so clinical diagnoses in the GP records are particularly important during that period.
Data collected from primary care is used to count COVID-19 patients in England between 1st March 2020 and 31st March 2021. The analysis uses a new data set called the GP extraction service Data for Pandemic Planning & Research (GDPPR).
These are new and experimental statistics which are under development. We welcome feedback from users to help us evaluate their suitability and quality. Please send any comments to [email protected] with "Coronavirus as recorded in primary care" in the subject line. Your feedback about these experimental statistics will help us evaluate their usefulness and inform our future plans.
While the experimental statistics designation should not be taken to indicate that the statistics are of poor quality, users are advised to consult the Caveats section of this release.
This primary care data set for patients registered in England, includes:
- positive test results as captured in GP records
- clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19
Primary care data capture patient demographic characteristics not available in other data sets.
Combining primary and secondary care data valid ethnicity information is captured for 91.4% of the cohort.
The data suggests that COVID-19 affected patient groups differently over time.
The data will reflect differences in infection rates or differences in how the different groups tested or approached their GP.
Between 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2021 the data captures:
3,267,820 patients with test or clinical diagnoses of COVID-19 (1 in 18 of registered patients).
Between 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, the rates of the registered patients in England with a positive COVID-19 test or diagnosis recorded in Primary Care are:
Highest in female patients, 1 in 16.
Lowest in male patients, 1 in 20.
Highest in patients in the Bangladeshi ethnic group, 1 in 10.
Lowest in patients in the Chinese ethnic group, 1 in 58.
Highest in patients over 90, 1 in 8.
Lowest in patients between the age of 5 – 11, 1 in 40.
Highest in the North West, 1 in 15.
Lowest in the South West, 1 in 24.
Highest in the 20% most deprived patients, 1 in 15.
Lowest in the 20% least deprived patients, 1 in 21.
Last edited: 19 May 2021 1:57 pm
