FOI Ref: FOI/2021/2744
You asked
Please supply information regarding the number of deaths due to COVID-19, without any underlying illness from March 2020 to July 2021.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Numbers and percentages of deaths where COVID-19 was recorded as the sole condition on the death certificate and COVID-19 deaths by main pre-existing condition, for England and Wales, are available in our Provisional Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales publication. The dataset can be found via the following link, here. This publication contains data up to June 2021. It will be updated to include figures for July on 23 August 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.
Earlier versions of this publication, covering March to June 2020, are available here.
We have also published a dataset covering underlying health conditions for the whole of 2020, based on finalised death registration data, this is available here.
If you have any further enquiries about this information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.