You asked
Please provide the total number of deaths in the UK recorded since COVID-19 was discovered in October 2019, regardless of the length of time between diagnosis and death that has been attributed to COVID-19, for instance where that cause has been clearly recorded on the death certificate, or as the outcome of a decision reached at a Coroner's court.
Please also provide details about the level of infectiousness the virus has, for instance how long a person remains infectious and whether it has been shown people in recovery are infectious. I am aware that might be a question for Public Health England.
Finally, do you have statistics on the effectiveness of different countries actions in preventing the spread of infection? These might reflect population density, R rate and parity of measures taken.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Mortality:
We collect mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
Our mortality statistics are derived from information on the death certificate. Headline figures for UK deaths are available within the following publication: Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional. COVID-19 registrations are available on Tab 2 COVID-19 weekly registrations and Headline UK figures can be found on Tab 4, named UK-COVID-19- Weekly registrations.
As of the latest available week (week 44, 30 October 2020), there have been 61,648 death registrations involving COVID-19. This means where COVID-19 has been mentioned anywhere on the death certificate. This publication is updated every Tuesday.
Infection:
Unfortunately, we do not hold the information you have requested. Public Health England (PHE) may be better placed to assist with your request. They can be contacted via email at wn_coronavirus@phe.gov.uk.