You asked
Please provide the ethnic groups of the 141 people aged 20 to 39 years, plus nine aged under 19 years, who have died from COVID-19 as of 27 April 2020.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Our article Coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by ethnic group, England and Wales: 2 March 2020 to 10 April 2020 provided a comparison of deaths where the coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate by broad age group, sex and ethnic group, using linked census and mortality records up to 10 April 2020 to estimate mortality risk for the following ethnic group breakdowns:
- White
- Mixed
- Indian
- Bangladeshi/Pakistani
- Chinese
- Black
- Other ethnic group (including other Asian)
The breakdown of those who died by ethnicity and age is readily available in the article. The age groups 0 to 64 years and 65 years and over were chosen because of the small numbers below 65 years. Small numbers make statistical calculations less reliable and also cause problems with confidentiality. The ethnicity data are based on the 2011 Census and we are required by law to prevent any threat to confidentiality of the data.
Therefore, we are unable to publish the data you have requested as it is considered personal information. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it an offence to disclose information held by the Statistics Board for statistical purposes that would identify an individual or a body corporate. This includes those who are deceased. As we are prohibited by law from publishing statistics in which individuals can be identified, we find that Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies. Section 44 is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest test needs to be applied.