You asked
Please provide the following:
How deaths from COVID-19 had NO underlying conditions in the UK.
How many people died from flu in 2019 and 2020 in the UK.
Total number of post mortems that have been carried out on the people who have died from Covid-19 that we have been told have died of Covid 19 in the UK.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the provision of mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
We have collaborated with Scotland and Northern Ireland to produce headline COVID figures for the UK, specifically the number of deaths involving COVID i.e. deaths where COVID was mentioned either as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor. This data can be found in our latest provisional weekly deaths publication.
COVID-19 deaths with no underlying conditions in England and Wales:
Please see Table 6a of the following publication, Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales. This provides the number of deaths involving COVID-19 by pre-existing conditions in England and Wales between March and June 2020.
The publication states that of the 50,335 deaths that occurred in March to June 2020 involving COVID-19 in England and Wales, 45,859 (91.1%) had at least one pre-existing condition, while 4,476 (8.9%) had none. COVID-19 deaths where there was no pre-existing condition between March and June 2020 are included below.
No pre-existing condition: England and Wales – 4476
No pre-existing condition: England – 4169
No pre-existing condition: Wales – 294
We define a pre-existing condition as the last health condition mentioned on the first part of the death certificate when it came before the coronavirus (COVID-19), or was an independent contributory factor in the death, mentioned in part II. Where only COVID-19 was recorded on the death certificate, or COVID-19 and subsequent conditions caused by COVID-19 were recorded, we refer to these deaths as having "No pre-existing conditions".
We are currently reassessing this publication and will be releasing an update soon analysing data from July onwards.
Influenza deaths in 2020 in England and Wales:
The downloadable dataset beneath Figure 2 of our most recent Weekly deaths bulletin provides weekly data showing the number of deaths from influenza and pneumonia combined (ICD-10 codes J09-J18) in 2020.
More in-depth analysis of deaths occurring between 1st January and 31st August 2020, including a split of flu and pneumonia figures for England and Wales and comparisons of deaths from COVID with deaths from flu and pneumonia are available here: Deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) compared with deaths from influenza and pneumonia, England and Wales.
A full breakdown of deaths by influenza and pneumonia separately for 2020 will be available once the data is finalised in mid-2021. The final release date will be announced on our Release Calendar.
Deaths from influenza 2019 in England and Wales:
The number of deaths where influenza was the underlying cause can be obtained via our NOMIS webservice for 2013 to 2019. Influenza can be identified using ICD-10 code J09-J11.
Please see the following instructions for using this service:
- Select the geography - England and Wales, regional or by local authority
- Select Age – All ages or 5-year age bands
- Select Gender – Total or Male/Female
- Select rates – All deaths, rates or percentage of population, etc.
- Select cause of death – Please select ICD-10 codes J09-J11.
- Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
Post-mortem information:
We have not undertaken analysis showing the number of people who died from COVID-19 who underwent a post-mortem examination and would therefore need to create bespoke analysis in order to answer this part of your request. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
However, once data are finalised in July 2021, special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales will be available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.