You asked
Could you kindly provide me with COVID-19 related information on pregnancies please.
For the January, February, March, and April 2020 period:
How many pregnant women had COVID-19?
How many pregnant women deceased?
How many infants born had COVID-19?
How may perinatal conditions were recorded for COVID-19 positive mother?
How many still-births, miscarriages, or early deliveries were recorded for COVID-19 positive pregnant women?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. Our statistics are based on information recorded when deaths are certified and registered, usually by a medical practitioner. The most recent annual figures published are for deaths registered in 2018.
We also publish provisional weekly deaths registrations which are currently published for deaths registered up to 22 May 2020. The first death registered in England and Wales involving COVID-19 was registered in the week ending 13th March 2020.
We have published an article and accompanying dataset which contains detailed analysis of all deaths that occurred in England and Wales between 1 and 31 March 2020, registered up to 6 April 2020. This article and the dataset have since been updated to include deaths that occurred up until 30 April 2020, the data for which can be found here. These also include late registrations for deaths that occurred in March.
Table 1 of each dataset linked above shows the number of deaths occurring in England and Wales in March and April 2020 by leading cause groupings, which includes deaths caused by COVID-19. Deaths for all other leading causes listed in this table (including ICD-10 codes for pregnancy-related factors, O00-O99 and conditions originating in the perinatal period P00-P96) were not caused by COVID-19. It cannot be identified from the table whether these deaths had a mention of COVID-19 as a contributory factor on the death certificate.
It is only possible to identify COVID-19 related deaths of pregnant women by identifying whether both pregnancy-related factors (O00-O99) and COVID-19 (U07.1 and UO7.2) were a contributory factor to the death, which means that both causes were mentioned anywhere on the death certificate. Data quality of death certificates is dependent on the correct identification and registration of cause, or causes of death by the medical practitioner.
If pregnancy was not a contributory factor to the death outlined by ICD-10 cause codes on the death certificate, it is not possible to confirm if a woman was pregnant at the time. Unfortunately, we do not hold data on the number of pregnant women who have had COVID-19.
The most recent weekly deaths bulletin for the week ending 22 May shows there were 2 deaths registered involving COVID-19 in the youngest age group (that is, those aged 1 year or under). The timeliness of the ONS weekly deaths bulletin means that data are provisional, and do not include late death registrations such as those pending coroner investigation. These provisional weekly death statistics are not revised and final death registration figures for 2020 will not be available until next year.
It is not possible to identify from our data whether live births (at any gestational age) were to a mother who had tested positive for COVID-19. Stillbirths are not included in our mortality statistics which provide information on deaths involving COVID-19. ONS do not hold data on late foetal losses (miscarriages).