You asked
I would like the data for deaths where the underlying cause or contributory cause was flu, by age group, England, for the months January - April 2020 (up to 20/4/2020).
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. We do not report numbers of influenza deaths separately, these deaths are either reported with pneumonia deaths or as part of a larger group containing all respiratory diseases.
There are two measures of cause of death: underlying cause; and any mention of the disease on the death certificate. We publish results based on both of these measures.
We publish a dataset for deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, which includes figures for deaths by all respiratory diseases and the coronavirus (COVID-19). In this publication, influenza deaths are not shown separately, instead they are included in respiratory deaths (ICD Code J00 - J99). The totals shown in this dataset are for underlying cause only. As at 1 May 2020 (latest available data), the total number of deaths where respiratory disease was the underlying cause of death, in England and Wales for 2020, was recorded as 31,315 deaths.
The accompanying bulletin for deaths registered weekly in England and Wales reports the number of deaths involving influenza and pneumonia (where COVID-19 was not also on the death certificate) in Figure 1. Additionally, the bulletin reports the total deaths involving influenza and pneumonia (but not COVID-19), in England and Wales for 2020, as at 1 May (latest available data) is 44,240 deaths. This total includes all deaths where influenza and pneumonia were mentioned somewhere on the death certificate and COVID-19 was not mentioned.
On 16 April we published analysis into "Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales: deaths occurring in March 2020", which provides further detail into underlying causes, however, please note that the analysis presented is for England and Wales. This shows the breakdown of COVID-19 deaths with an underlying cause of Influenza and pneumonia. Table 1 of the data tables accompanying this publication also provides a breakdown of underlying cause for all deaths for March. There were 2,287 recorded deaths, in England, caused by influenza and pneumonia.
Our April analysis of COVID-19 deaths will be published on 15 May.
Our new Customise my data service will also provide up-to-date weekly counts of deaths involving COVID-19.