FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3510
You asked
Published data suggests that 150,000 have died where COVID-19 was confirmed within 28 days of death.
If COVID-19 was not a primary cause, what was the primary cause in the remaining 90,000?
We said
Thank you for your request.
COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test
Our data is derived from the death certificate, using information received at the point of death registration. This is different to the data used by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) which records all deaths with a positive test within 28 days. Therefore, we do not hold the information requested.
ONS data as described here are different from the figures on COVID-19 deaths published on the government's COVID-19 dashboard which shows 'deaths within 28 days of a positive test'. You can read a blog by Professor John Newton of Public Health England about the complexities of counting COVID-19 deaths and the different methods used.
Therefore, the UKHSA would be better placed to answer this enquiry. They can be contacted at enquiries@ukhsa.gov.uk.
COVID-19 deaths registered in England and Wales
We can provide deaths registered with COVID-19 as the underlying cause or as a contributory cause in England and Wales. This is using information derived from the death certificate at the point of death registration.
We use the term "due to COVID-19" when referring only to deaths with an underlying cause of death as COVID-19 and we use the term "involving COVID-19" when referring to deaths that had COVID-19 mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not. Information on cause of death coding is available in the User Guide to Mortality Statistics.
2020 data
We hold the following analysis Deaths due to COVID-19, registered in England and Wales: 2020 which has 81,795 deaths involving COVID-19, of which 73,766 deaths are registered as due to COVID-19 in England and Wales in 2020.
Monthly data
Provisional data for 2020 and 2021 is held as part of our Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales publication. Table 3 shows monthly deaths due to COVID-19 in England and in Wales, and table 3b shows deaths involving COVID-19 in England and in Wales.
2022 data
Provisional data for 2022 is published in our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales analysis but January data will also be published in the above Monthly Mortality Analysis publication in February 2022.
It may also be of interest that ONS publish deaths due to COVID-19 with pre-existing conditions by broad age-bands (0-64 and 65 and over) for England and Wales in our monthly mortality analysis publication. You can access the figures directly here: Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales.