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> Around 50,200 adults are living with hepatitis C, figures for England in 2024 suggest.

> Estimates indicate 84.6% of those living with hepatitis C have been diagnosed - just short of the 90% target.

How do they know there are that many Hep C patients if they haven’t been diagnosed?

Just a guess: Ratio of positive results out of previously unknown cases gives a good estimate of the total expected unknown cases. Precision depends on selection bias, and statistics has tools to estimate and/or improve it.

Perhaps raw statistics, or estimates based on measuring traces in wastewater. I know that in the U.S. during covid they traced some new viral strains using that method.

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