Deaths directly from COVID-19 in England and Wales

FOI Reference: FOI/2021/3138

You asked

Can I please get the statistics on how many people have died directly from COVID-19 in England and Wales? By this I mean, people who died only due to COVID-19 directly, nothing else, no other medical issues, just people who have died directly from COVID-19. I want to know the exact figures from the 1st of February 2020 until the most recent date that records hold up to – with today being 24 October 2021.

We said

Thank you for your request.

We hold the following analysis - Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales – which is published quarterly.

2020 data

Please refer to the 2020 version of this dataset, accessible via the following link: Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales. Table 1a shows there were 9,432 deaths registered due to COVID-19 with no pre-existing conditions. Table 1b and 1c shows the data separately for England and Wales.

2021 data

In Quarter 1 (Jan -March 2021), using table 2 of the dataset there were 6,483 deaths registered due to COVID-19 with no pre-existing conditions.

In Quarter 2 (April - June 2021), using table 2 of the dataset there were 346 deaths registered due to COVID-19 in England and Wales with no pre-existing conditions.

Data for August to September will be published on 23 November 2021.

As such, this information 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.