Background: Universities in England returned to in–person teaching in September 2020, requiring a large migration of students across the country. To understand the impact this had on COVID–19 transmission, we identified and described student cases during the 2020 autumn term. <br><br>Methods: Student COVID–19 cases were identified from two sources: contact tracing records identifying attendance at university prior to onset and residence in student accommodation identified from matching cases’ residential addresses against national property databases. Residential outbreaks were defined as ≥2 cases with specimen dates within 14 days residing in the same property. A matched analysis of COVID–19 rates and trends in towns/cities with and without a university campus was undertaken. <br><br>Findings: We identified 53,430 student cases between 1 September and 31 December 2020, constituting 2·7% of all cases (n=1,999,180) in this time period;39,032 reported attendance at a university during contact tracing;19,901 resided in student accommodation premises. Cases increased rapidly following the start of term driven initially by cases in student accommodation. Over two thirds (72·2% n=14,375) of cases in student accommodation were part of a residential outbreak.Towns/cities with universities saw a threefold increase in rates amongst 18–23 year olds compared to non–university towns. <br><br>Interpretation: This study suggests that the return to university teaching and associated movement of students in England was linked to large increases in SARS–CoV–2 transmission amongst this population and potentially contributing to subsequent large increases in the wider population surrounding a campus. <br><br>Funding Information: No funding was received for this work. <br><br>Declaration of Interests: None of the authors declare any conflicts of interest.<br><br>Ethics Approval Statement: UKHSA has legal permission, provided by Regulation 3 of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002, to process patient confidential information for national surveillance of communicable diseases and as such, individual patient consent is not required.<br><br>
The Impact of Returning University Students on COVID-19 Infections in England, 2020