COVID-19 deaths broken down by pre-existing health condition, including those who were terminally ill

You asked

​​How many people have died from coronavirus as a direct result of the condition who didn't have underlying health conditions? How many died directly from coronavirus with underlying health conditions who were terminally ill and would've died anyway?

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Please see the following publication: Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales. This publication provides the number of deaths where COVID-19 was recorded as the sole condition on the death certificate from March to June 2020. Figures are available for England and Wales separately.

Notes:

1. Figures include deaths of non-residents
2. Figures are provisional
3. Based on deaths involving COVID-19 (ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2) rather than deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death
4. Deaths occurring between March and June 2020 rather than deaths registered between March and June 2020
5. Main pre-existing causes are grouped using the ONS Leading Causes of Deaths list (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/methodologies/userguidetomortalitystatistics/leadingcausesofdeathinenglandandwalesrevised2016) and International Classification of Disease version 10 blocks of causes.
6. Including deaths registered up until 4 July 2020.

This publication had been paused in the summer of 2020 due to the decrease in the number of deaths. These figures will now be included in our Deaths registered monthly in England and Wales starting 26 February 2021.

As such, the information you have requested 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.

COVID-19 deaths of those who were terminally ill

Our mortality data is derived from the information provided on death certificates. Unfortunately, we do not hold information regarding how many people who have died from COVID-19 were receiving palliative care or terminally ill, as this information is not recorded on the death certificate. You may wish to contact the NHS End of Life Care Programme to find out if they hold any relevant statistics. They can be contacted via email at england.palliativeandendoflife@nhs.net.