One in three fully vaccinated people did not follow guidance to take ten lateral flow tests after coming into contact with a Covid-infected person, ONS data show.
A survey of more than 1,000 vaccinated people was conducted between January 10 and 15 on people who had been exposed to the virus.
In the week ending January 15, around one in 20 people in England in private households were likely to have coronavirus, the ONS has previously said.
Official guidance for close contacts of a positive test is that they do not have to self-isolate if they are fully vaccinated, but they are encouraged to take a daily lateral flow test for ten days to ensure they have not caught the virus.
However, just 70 per cent of people said they did do daily lateral flow tests, in line with the advice. A fifth of people who did do tests eventually tested positive at least once.
A negative lateral flow test does not mean you are virus-free
The most common reasons given for why the 30 per cent did not test themselves, as recommended, were “I did not have access to enough lateral flow tests” (32 per cent of those who did not take tests) and “I do not think it’s useful” (21 per cent).
Just over half of all respondents (56 per cent) said they had taken additional measures to keep themselves and others safe, beyond government guidelines and recommendations, while around seven in 10 (69 per cent) agreed that “coronavirus poses a risk to me personally”.
Lack of tests posed difficulties
But only 64 per cent of people managed to do a test every single day for ten days without fail and the biggest reason, the data show, was a lack of tests.
More than three quarters (82 per cent) of respondents who did daily rapid lateral flow testing and reported experiencing difficulties said they could not get hold of any lateral flow tests.
A further 23 per cent said the delivery time was so long they had missed a scheduled test.
And even among those that did manage to do all the daily swabs, only a third (35 per cent) had any intention to report their result via the official channels, similar to the proportion who said they always report them (33 per cent).
A further 21 per cent said they sometimes reported the results, while 11 per cent said they often did so.
