FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4147
You asked
How many covid deaths have there been altogether since the start of the pandemic specifically a) as a proximate 1 cause of death only and b) as a proximate 2 cause of death (ie OF covid and With covid).
For the deaths with a proximate 2 cause (with covid), what does this actually mean? Did they die because of covid or due to something else?
Can you give me an age break down for the covid deaths since the start of the pandemic? E.g. how many died who were 20–30-year-old for example and so on.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
COVID-19 deaths registered in England and Wales
We can provide deaths registered with COVID-19 as the underlying cause or as a contributory cause in England and Wales. This is using information derived from the death certificate at the point of death registration.
The death certificate (Annex A Medical Certificate of Cause of Death) used in England and Wales is compatible with that recommended by WHO. It is set out in two parts. Part I gives the condition or sequence of conditions leading directly to death, while Part II gives details of any associated conditions that contributed to the death but are not part of the causal sequence.
The selection of the underlying cause of death is based on ICD rules and is made from the condition or conditions reported by the certifier, as recorded on the certificate. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death or the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury.
We use the term "due to COVID-19" when referring only to deaths with an underlying cause of death as COVID-19 and we use the term "involving COVID-19" when referring to deaths that had COVID-19 mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not. Information on cause of death coding is available in the User Guide to Mortality Statistics.
Annual data
Please see the following link: Deaths due to COVID-19, registered in England and Wales: 2020. This analysis shows that there were 81,795 deaths involving COVID-19, of which 73,766 deaths are registered as due to COVID-19 in England and Wales in 2020.
We have not yet finalised 2021 COVID-19 deaths in this format, however we do produce provisional monthly data.
Monthly data
Provisional data for 2020 and 2021 can be found in the following publication: Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales. Table 3 shows monthly deaths due to COVID-19 in England and in Wales, and table 3b shows deaths involving COVID-19 in England and in Wales.
This data is provisional and subject to change. We will publish our Deaths Registered Series in July 2022, which will include finalised data. Finalised data include late registrations, which are delayed due to a Coroner's inquest into the death.
2022 data
Provisional data for 2022 is published in our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales analysis by age breakdown, or it is available monthly in the previously mentioned Monthly Mortality analysis.
Age Disaggregation
For age disaggregated data we do publish all COVID-19 deaths by single year of age in the following publication: Single year of age and average age of death of people whose death was due to or involved COVID-19. The latest data available is April 2022, May's data will be released on 22 June 2022.
For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.