COVID-19 deaths and infections in England 2020 and 2021

​FOI Ref: FOI/2021/2949

You asked

​Please supply the following data:

• Total England Covid Infections from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Infections by age group from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Infections with underlying health conditions from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Infections by age group with underlying health conditions from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021

Also

• Total England Deaths by all causes from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Deaths from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Deaths with underlying health conditions from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Deaths by age group from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Deaths by age group from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021
• Total England Covid Deaths by age group with underlying health conditions from 23rd March 2020 - 7th September 2021

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Infection data:

The COVID-19 Infection Survey is a household survey that estimates the number of people testing positive for infection and for antibodies in the UK. The survey began on 26 April 2020, so we do not hold data from prior to this date. Our statistics refer to individuals in the community, by which we mean private households. These figures exclude infections reported in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings.

You can find the official reported estimates of the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in England on tab 1a in the dataset accompanying our latest bulletin. You may also be interested in the Department for Health and Social Care GOV.UK dashboard which reports the cumulative number of confirmed cases since March 2020.

You can find the modelled daily rates of the percentage of the population testing positive for COVID-19 by age/school year in England on tab 1h in the dataset accompanying our latest bulletin. You can find previous datasets in our dataset series, in order to see this data for earlier time periods.

We do not hold analysis on infections with underlying health conditions, or on infections with underlying health conditions by age. However, you may be interested in our analysis on the likelihood of individuals testing positive for COVID-19 from nose and throat swabs in England, from 25 February to 16 May 2021, by self-reported disability status. This analysis also includes an age breakdown.

Public Health England (PHE) may be able to assist further. They can be contacted via email at wn_coronavirus@phe.gov.uk.

For further information and an overview of data from the ONS and other sources, please check our ONS COVID Insights Tool.

2020 mortality data for England

We have published the following requested data for England only, deaths by all causes, deaths due to COVID-19 and deaths involving COVID-19 for England and Wales.

Deaths registered between 23 March 2020 and 31 December 2020, by five year age group, England

1. Underlying cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes as shown in the 'Definition' tab.  Deaths 'due to' COVID-19 are those where COVID-19 was recorded as the underlying cause of death.  Deaths 'involving' COVID-19 include deaths where COVID-19 was recorded either as the underlying cause of death, or a contributory factor.  Deaths 'due to' COVID-19 are included in the numbers of deaths 'involving' COVID-19, therefore the figures cannot be added together to get a total.

2. Figures are for persons usually resident in England, based on August 2021 National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) boundaries.

3. Figures are based on deaths registered between 23/03/2020 and 31/12/2020.  Figures only include deaths that were registered by 31st December 2020, so figures for 2020 may be an underestimate due to registration delays.  Further information on registration delays for a range of causes can be found on the ONS website via the following link: Impact of registration delays on mortality statistics in England and Wales.

2021 mortality data for England

Mortality data for 2021 is available in the following publication: Monthly Mortality analysis. Table 4 and 6 provide deaths from all causes by broad age-band for England. However this publication does not provide age disaggregation for COVID-19 deaths. However, COVID-19 deaths by 5-year age band for England only will be published in our Monthly Mortality Analysis for October 2021.

As such, this information is considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.

This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.

You may also be interested in the following analysis: Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional. This publication includes provisional counts of the number of all cause and COVID-19 deaths registered in England but does not have age disaggregation. Data is available from 2 January 2021 to 17 September 2021; this publication is updated every Tuesday.

We also publish Deaths involving COVID-19 by month of registration, UK which will provide provisional age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving COVID-19 by sex and month of death registration for England. Latest data available is August 2021. To note, this publication does not include age disaggregation.

Deaths from COVID-19 by pre-existing condition

We hold the following analysis, Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales, showing deaths from COVID-19 by pre-existing condition for 2020 and 2021 by broad age band.

Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis showing COVID-19 deaths with pre-existing conditions specifically for England only. In order to fulfil this request, we would need to create bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. However, this can be requested as a bespoke data request for 2020 registered deaths in England, subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Please note, we do not create bespoke outputs for 2021 data whilst it is still provisional.

Such enquiries would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.