FOI Reference: FOI/2021/3277
You asked
On your own ONS site you state that covid 19 'deaths may be counted more than once as someone may have more than one pre-existing condition'.
If this is so, then presumably the daily and overall deaths reported on the bbc news must be an inflated version of the true deaths?
We said
Thank you for your request.
COVID-19 is defined by the emergency ICD-10 codes U.701 and U.702. The World Health Organisation provide an online ICD code lookup. Deaths with a positive test are coded using the ICD10 code U0.71 and those with suspected COVID-19 but no test has been conducted are coded with ICD10 U0.72.
The Office for National Statistics provisional weekly deaths publication reports the number of death registrations where respiratory diseases were recorded as the underlying cause. Respiratory disease is defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes J00-J99.
A death where COVID was recorded as the underlying cause would be included in the count for 'COVID underlying', but for example, if the underlying cause was COVID and a respiratory disease was mentioned as a contributory factor then it would be included in both the count of deaths where COVID was the underlying cause and the count of deaths involving respiratory disease.
Due to a difference in the way we report deaths for these cause groups, it is possible that some deaths are counted in both the respiratory and COVID categories. The death itself is not double counted, but it may appear in multiple categories based on the causes involved in the death.
If you would like to discuss this further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.