COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test and ONS methodology for COVID-19 reporting

FOI Reference: FOI/2021/3297

You asked

I should like you to answer these questions

Deaths within 28 days of a positive covid test, are now standing at over 140,000, please confirm how many of those deaths were JUST FROM covid, i.e. no other cause shown on the death certificate. Please just give me the figure, and not, as in the past, all the other details as well.

Please also take any day you like in the past ten days and confirm how many positive covid tests there were on that day, and also how many negative tests there were on that same day.

Please provide a breakdown of where these test results came from - CIS

Please also confirm what steps if any have been taken to notify MPs and the media of the actual number of deaths FROM covid as opposed to WITH covid

We said

Thank you for your request.

It is important to note that the ONS do not provide the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test. This is the criteria used by public health agencies to monitor the pandemic.

ONS counts a death involving COVID-19 as a death where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate. Doctors are required by law to certify the cause of death 'to the best of their knowledge and belief'. This means the medical professional believed COVID-19 had been involved in the chain of events that led to the death. Testing could inform part of the information provided by the medical professional, but they could also use other information (such as symptoms and x-rays, for example). This means that someone could have COVID-19 on the death certificate who may not have been tested for COVID-19. Also, in some cases, the person may have tested positive for COVID-19, but the medical professional believed that COVID-19 did not play a part in the death. This means COVID-19 would not appear on the death certificate.

Deaths within 28 days of a positive test are used by public health agencies and are useful to respond to the virus quickly. Information provided on the death certificates take longer to collate but provide more robust figures on the number of deaths involving and due to COVID-19.

More information can be found in a  blog by Professor John Newton of Public Health England about the complexities of counting COVID-19 deaths and the different methods used.

We use the term "due to COVID-19" when referring only to deaths where that illness was recorded as the underlying cause of death. We use the term "involving COVID-19" when referring to deaths that had that illness mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not.

We have provided the summed total from March 2020 to 26 November 2021 which is the latest available data.

The information you have requested regarding positive tests is available on the gov.uk coronavirus dashboard. You can find the daily number of people testing positive under cases and the total number of virus tests conducted per day under testing. You can find out more about testing methodology in the about the data section. For more information, you can contact the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency, previously Public Health England) via email at informationrights@ukhsa.gov.uk. 

The Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) is a household survey. Our statistics refer to the number of current COVID-19 infections within the population living in private residential households. We exclude those in hospitals, care homes and/or other communal establishments. In communal establishments, rates of COVID-19 infection are likely to be different. You can find the number testing positive alongside the number in our sample in tab 1c of the England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales datasets accompanying our latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK bulletin. For more detailed information on our testing methods you can view our COVID-19 Infection Survey methodology article.

Further information and an overview of data about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Office for National Statistic (ONS) and other sources can be found in our Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights tool.  

ONS methodology for reporting of COVID-19 deaths has been consistent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is published weekly in our Deaths Registered Weekly, User guide to Mortality statistics and Mortality statistics in England and Wales QMI and in our special release looking at the Quality of mortality data during the coronavirus pandemic, England and Wales.

The above information is provided in the Contents and Footnotes any published data release or data requested by central or local government and media outlets.

This has been reported on our Twitter channel @ONS, through our tweeting statisticians.

We have also published COVID-19 statistics methodology in our blog Sarah Caul | National Statistical .

For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk