Fewer households experiencing symptoms, less testing for COVID-19

Fewer Australians reported household members experiencing cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms, and fewer reported testing for COVID-19, according to survey results released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

David Zago, head of household surveys at the ABS, said: “Our latest Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey, conducted between 8 and 28 August 2022, showed 36 per cent of households experienced cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms, down from 42 per cent in July 2022.”

Households that had a COVID-19 test in the past four weeks were also down (43 per cent) when compared to July (48 per cent).

“Of those testing for COVID-19, 22 per cent were positive, down from 27 per cent in the previous month,” Mr Zago said.

In August, Australians continued to report impacts of COVID-19 on their household’s school and childcare attendance and working arrangements.

“Consistent with July, one in five Australians reported that the job situation of someone in their household had changed due to COVID-19 in the last four weeks, while 15 per cent of Australian households with children reported impacts on school or childcare attendance,” Mr Zago said. 

The ABS would like to thank the Australian households that contributed to these survey results.