Positive coronavirus cases reported to higher education institutions in Wales: 5 September 2021 to 3 April 2022

Most higher education institutions (HEI) have experienced an increase in cases since December 2021. Over the past week, the 7 day rolling average has been less than 22 positive COVID-19 cases in each HEI.

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The collection for the 2021/22 academic year commenced on 30 August 2021 with a 7-day rolling average from 5 September 2021 to account for the Autumn semester and students returning to study.

There was a break in reporting over the Christmas period (13 December 2021 to 9 January 2022). The time series recommenced with a 7-day rolling average from 16 January 2022.

Historical data from 27 September 2020 to 25 July 2021 is available in the accompanying tables.

The figures only include cases reported to the HEI’s faculty so there is likely to be an undercount in the data. Reporting practices are also likely to vary between institutions so comparisons should be made with caution. Please see ‘Quality’ section for further information.

Quality

The Welsh Government has been collecting data on positive COVID-19 cases from Welsh HEIs since the start of the 2020/21 academic year. This information has been collected to inform Ministers and Welsh Government officials of the current levels of infection in Welsh HEIs, to be able to make informed, timely decisions on higher education policy.

The figures include both staff and students and refer only to cases made known to the HEI’s faculty. The numbers of positive cases in university staff and students may therefore be higher than the figures reported here. Reporting practices are likely to vary between institutions so comparisons should be used with caution.

This update revises all statistics previously published here on positive COVID-19 cases in Welsh HEIs.

This data is management information collected by Welsh Government on a weekly basis from HEIs in Wales. To allow the timely release of the data, these statistics have not been through the same rigorous quality assurance processes as other Welsh Government statistics, but we have made every effort to validate figures with HEIs before publication. Each week, HEIs have the opportunity to revise submissions for previous weeks. As such, figures are considered provisional and subject to change.

HEIs report all known new positive COVID-19 cases to the Welsh Government each week. These are positive cases reported to the HEI by students or staff and are not an extract from the testing or contact tracing administrative systems.

The date of notification is the date the HEI was notified of the positive case, not necessarily the date the test was taken or the result received.

The figures are not limited to students on campus and so may also include students studying remotely from home.

Due to the fact that the lateral flow test currently requires a confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, there is a possibility of double counting during the period of the mass testing pilot in 2020. The way in which institutions have accounted for this varies, with some institutions having systems in place that can account for these duplicates and others that do not. There is also the possibility of a delay in case reporting where some institutions choose to wait for the PCR test result before reporting the figures. Where possible, any double counting and time lags in reporting due to these reasons will be caveated.

Further information about the coronavirus outbreak in Wales can be found on Public Health Wales’ data dashboard.

National Statistics status

These are not National Statistics and have been produced quickly in response to developing national and local events.

Well-being of Future Generations Act

The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.

Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the well-being goals and associated technical information is available in the Well-being of Wales report.

Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.

Next update

This is the final report in this series.

We want your feedback

We welcome any feedback on any aspect of these statistics which can be provided by email to highereducationandstudentfinance.stats@gov.wales.