FOI Reference: FOI/2021/2631
You asked
Please provide the data showing the number of deaths involving COVID with no underlying health conditions and no other cause of death listed on the death certificate between March2020 – present day, if possible please breakdown the deaths to include existing morbidities from these dates.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
COVID-19 deaths and pre-existing conditions
We hold the following analysis, Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics, which provides deaths from January 2020 to December 2020 by two age groups in the dataset in Table 2.
| Number of pre-existing conditions | January to March 2020 | April to June 2020 | July to September 2020 | October to December 2020 | January to December 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over |
| 0 | 27 | 137 | 949 | 4,620 | 59 | 213 | 406 | 2,238 | 1,441 | 7,208 |
| 1 | 67 | 336 | 1,329 | 11,712 | 70 | 433 | 588 | 5,615 | 2,054 | 18,096 |
| 2 | 44 | 366 | 1,085 | 10,219 | 47 | 447 | 507 | 5,754 | 1,683 | 16,786 |
| 3 | 46 | 298 | 655 | 6,734 | 28 | 338 | 322 | 4,123 | 1,051 | 11,493 |
| 4 | 12 | 130 | 317 | 3,147 | 15 | 163 | 134 | 1,907 | 478 | 5,347 |
| 5 or more | 11 | 91 | 160 | 1,915 | 7 | 133 | 78 | 1,093 | 256 | 3,232 |
| Proportion with no pre-existing conditions | 13.00% | 10.10% | 21.10% | 12.00% | 26.10% | 12.30% | 20.00% | 10.80% | 20.70% | 11.60% |
| Mean number of pre-existing conditions | 1.92 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 1.97 | 1.55 | 2.17 | 1.73 | 2.09 | 1.71 | 2.02 |
Download this table England
.xls .csv
| Number of pre-existing conditions | January to March 2020 | April to June 2020 | July to September 2020 | October to December 2020 | January to December 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over | Aged 1-64 years | Aged 65 and over |
| 0 | 1 | 7 | 56 | 339 | 2 | 12 | 49 | 285 | 108 | 643 |
| 1 | 3 | 23 | 59 | 653 | 4 | 28 | 50 | 617 | 116 | 1,321 |
| 2 | 0 | 15 | 51 | 470 | 2 | 27 | 38 | 477 | 91 | 989 |
| 3 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 294 | 1 | 19 | 24 | 275 | 50 | 594 |
| 4 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 119 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 143 | 21 | 274 |
| 5 or more | 1 | 4 | 5 | 73 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 72 | 12 | 153 |
| Proportion with no pre-existing conditions | 20.00% | 12.10% | 27.10% | 17.40% | 20.00% | 12.10% | 27.80% | 15.20% | 27.10% | 16.20% |
| Mean number of pre-existing conditions | 1.8 | 1.79 | 1.49 | 1.73 | 1.5 | 2.05 | 1.5 | 1.81 | 1.5 | 1.77 |
Download this table Wales
.xls .csv
Quarter 1 data for 2021 data is available in Table 2 of the publication.
| Number of pre-existing conditions | Aged 0-64 years | Aged 65 and over | All ages |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1,560 | 4,923 | 6,483 |
| 1 | 1,840 | 12,016 | 13,856 |
| 2 | 1,495 | 11,715 | 13,210 |
| 3 | 928 | 8,184 | 9,112 |
| 4 | 404 | 3,925 | 4,329 |
| 5 or more | 214 | 2,261 | 2,475 |
| Proportion with no pre-existing conditions | 24.20% | 11.40% | 13.10% |
| Mean number of pre-existing conditions | 1.6 | 2.1 | 2 |
Download this table Table 2: Average number of pre-existing conditions in deaths due to COVID-19 by broad age group
.xls .csvNotes:
Based on non-neonatal deaths due to COVID-19; see the Definitions tab for information on our definition of COVID-19.
Numbers exclude one record with ordering anomalies that affect judgement on whether condition pre-existed.
Figures for England and Wales (combined) include deaths of non-residents. However, all other geographical breakdowns exclude deaths of non-residents and boundaries are based on the most up-to-date information available at time of publication.
Figures are for deaths registered in Quarter 1 (January to March) 2021. There is a delay between a death occurring and it being registered; for more information see our impact of registration delays bulletin.
This is the latest analysis available. This publication will be updated quarterly. As such, the information you have requested from April to June 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.
Future releases will be published on our Release Calendar.