FOI Ref: FOI/2022/4087
You asked
Please supply the following information:
Since December 2019, how many Death certificates have had Sars-Cov-2 mentioned anywhere on the certificate?
Since December 2019, how many Death certificates have the alleged Sars-Cov-2 virus as the cause of Death?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Our data is derived from the death certificate, using information received at the point of death registration. This is different to the data used by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) which records all deaths with a positive test within 28 days.
Our data are different from the figures on COVID-19 deaths published on the government's COVID-19 dashboard which shows 'deaths within 28 days of a positive test'. You can read a blog by Professor John Newton of Public Health England about the complexities of counting COVID-19 deaths and the different methods used.
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.
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.
The ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2 were created by the WHO in February 2020: Emergency use ICD codes for COVID-19 disease outbreak (who.int).
The first death registration involving COVID-19 in England and Wales was registered on 9 March 2020 in the North West region of England. Therefore, we do not hold data on COVID-10 deaths registered in 2019.
We hold the following analysis Deaths due to COVID-19, registered in England and Wales: 2020 which shows 81,795 deaths involving COVID-19, of which 73,766 deaths are registered as due to COVID-19 in England and Wales in 2020.
2021 provisional deaths due to and involving COVID-19 in England and Wales
Provisional data for 2021 is held as part of our Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales publication. 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.
We have not yet completed analysis of 2021 COVID-19 deaths, this will be published in July 2022. Please note, this data is provisional and subject to change with the inclusion of late registrations.
Deaths due to COVID-19: 66,869
Deaths involving COVID-19: 77,196
2022 provisional deaths due to and involving COVID-19 in England and Wales
Provisional data for 2022 is published in our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales analysis from January to April. This publication is updated every Tuesday.
We have provided summed total from 1 January 2022 to week ending 22 April 2022 which is the latest available data.
Deaths due to COVID-19: 10,663
Deaths involving COVID-19: 15,772
For further information on this request, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk