Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional: week ending 12 June 2020

• Comparison of weekly death occurrences in England and Wales: up to week ending 12 June 2020

• Where to find statistics on UK deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and infection rates by country

• The number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 12 June 2020 (Week 24) was 9,976; this was 733 lower than Week 23 and 5.9% (559 deaths) higher than the five-year average.

• Of the deaths registered in Week 24, 1,114 mentioned "novel coronavirus (COVID-19)", the lowest number of deaths involving COVID-19 in the last 11 weeks; accounting for 11.2% of all deaths in England and Wales.

• The number of deaths involving COVID-19 did not increase across any age group for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in Week 24.

• In Week 24, the proportion of deaths occurring in care homes decreased to 21.4% while deaths involving COVID-19 as a percentage of all deaths in care homes decreased to 17.3%.

• In Week 24, the number of deaths in care homes was 199 deaths higher than the five-year average, while in hospitals the number of deaths was 503 fewer than the five-year average; the total number of excess deaths involving COVID-19 continued to decrease.

• The number of deaths involving COVID-19 continued to decrease across all English regions but only the North East had fewer overall deaths than the five-year average in Week 24. 

• In Wales, the total number of deaths was below the five-year average for Week 24 while the number of deaths involving COVID-19 fell to 57 deaths registered.

• Of all deaths involving COVID-19 registered up to Week 24, 63.6% occurred in hospital with the remainder mainly occurring in care homes (29.7%), private homes (4.5%) and hospices (1.4%).

• The number of deaths registered in the UK in the week ending 12 June 2020 (Week 24) was 11,289 of which 1,205 deaths involved COVID-19.

Figure 1: The number of deaths involving COVID-19 decreased for the eighth consecutive week

Number of deaths registered by week, England and Wales, 28 December 2019 to 12 June 2020

The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales decreased from 10,709 in Week 23 (week ending 5 June 2020) to 9,976 in Week 24 (week ending 12 June 2020). This was 559 more deaths than the five-year average (Figure 1). More information is in Measuring the data.

The increase in the number of deaths in Week 20 was impacted by the early May Bank Holiday, which took place on Friday 8 May 2020 (in Week 19). The impact of the early May Bank Holiday was analysed in our Week 20 bulletin.

Week 22 also included the late May Bank Holiday which occurred on Monday 25 May 2020. This may have impacted the number of death registrations. Therefore, trends seen in Weeks 22 and 23 should also be interpreted with caution.

The number of death registrations involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic decreased from 1,588 in Week 23 to 1,114 in Week 24. Of all deaths registered in Week 24, 11.2% mentioned COVID-19; down from 14.8% in Week 23.

Similar patterns can be seen for England and Wales separately, with the number of deaths in England decreasing from 9,995 in Week 23 to 9,391 in Week 24, which was 588 above the Week 24 average. Of the Week 24 deaths, 11.3% (1,057 deaths) involved COVID-19 in England.

In Wales, the number of deaths decreased by 700 deaths in Week 23 to 574 deaths in Week 24, 14 deaths lower than the Week 24 average. Of these, 9.9% (57 deaths) involved COVID-19.

The number of deaths mentioning "Influenza and Pneumonia" on the death certificate (without COVID-19) decreased from 1,036 in Week 23 to 996 in Week 24 and remained below the five-year average. The number of deaths that mentioned both "Influenza and Pneumonia" and COVID-19 on the death certificate decreased to 449, compared with 600 deaths in Week 23.

In Week 24, 21.2% of all deaths mentioned "Influenza and Pneumonia", COVID-19, or both compared with 24.5% in Week 23. "Influenza and Pneumonia" has been included for comparison, as a well-understood cause of death involving respiratory infection that is likely to have somewhat similar risk factors to COVID-19.

Figure 2: The number of excess deaths involving COVID-19 continued to decrease but remains above the five-year average

Number of deaths registered by week, England and Wales, 28 December 2019 to 12 June 2020

As COVID-19 was not a cause of death prior to 2020, any deaths involving COVID-19 appear in the counts above the five-year average and are counted as excess deaths. This means that when the number of deaths involving COVID-19 is higher than the number of excess deaths, the bar indicating deaths not involving COVID-19 makes a negative contribution.

Between Weeks 1 and 12, 138,916 deaths were registered which was 4,822 less than the five-year average for these weeks. However, between Weeks 13 and 24, 178,372 deaths were registered which was 59,252 more than the five-year average. Week 24 showed a continuation of the decreasing trend in excess deaths involving COVID-19 (Figure 2). Detailed analysis on non-COVID-19 related deaths is available in analysis of death registrations not involving coronavirus (COVID-19).

Looking at the year-to-date (using the most up-to-date data we have available), the number of deaths up to 12 June was 317,260 which is 54,402 more than the five-year average. Of the deaths registered by 12 June 2020, 48,538 mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate; 15.3% of all deaths in England and Wales.

Looking at the year-to-date for England and Wales separately, the number of deaths for England was 298,232 which is 52,680 (21.5%) more than the five-year average; of these 46,110 deaths (15.5%) mentioned COVID-19. In Wales, the number of deaths up to 12 June was 18,541 which is 2,003 (12.1%) more than the five-year average; of these 2,357 deaths (12.7%) mentioned COVID-19.

Figure 3: A quarter of all deaths involving COVID-19 were of people aged 90 years and over in Week 24

Deaths by age group, England and Wales, week ending 12 June 2020

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of deaths involving COVID-19 did not increase across any of the age groups in Week 24 (week ending 12 June 2020). However, the number of deaths involving COVID-19 were higher amongst the older age groups (Figure 3). The highest proportion of deaths involving COVID-19 were to people aged 85 to 89 years, where 14.2% of deaths involved COVID-19 (243 deaths).

Looking at the year-to date, for most age groups, there have been more deaths involving COVID-19 in males than in females (Figure 4). However, there were more deaths in females aged 85 years and over (11,055) than males (9,427). This could be because the over-85 years female population (939,000) is larger than the over-85 male population (564,000) in England and Wales.

Figure 5: The number of deaths involving COVID-19 was highest in the North West for the sixth week

Deaths by regions in England, and Wales, week ending 12 June 2020

Figure 6: The number of deaths involving COVID-19 registered across all English regions and Wales continued decreasing

Deaths by region in England, and Wales, week ending 12 June 2020

In Week 24 (week ending 12 June 2020), there were 57 deaths involving COVID-19 registered in Wales. Out of the English regions, the North West had the largest number of deaths involving COVID-19 (196 deaths), whereas the North East region had the highest proportion of deaths involving COVID-19, with 14.9% of all deaths involving COVID-19. More detailed geographical analysis between 1 March and 31 May 2020 can be found in our Deaths involving COVID-19 by local area and socioeconomic deprivation release.

Though the number of deaths were highest in the North West, the East Midlands had the highest percentage of deaths above the five-year average in Week 24 (18.2%). In contrast, the number of deaths in Week 24 registered in the North East and Wales were 2.8% and 2.4% fewer than the five-year average, respectively (Table 1).

Deaths registered by place of occurrence

The year-to-date analysis shows that, of deaths involving COVID-19 up to Week 24 (week ending 12 June 2020), 63.6% (30,868 deaths) occurred in hospital, with the remainder occurring in care homes (14,404 deaths), private homes (2,205 deaths), hospices (660 deaths), other communal establishments (219 deaths), and elsewhere (182 deaths).

The proportion of deaths from all causes that occurred in care homes continued to decrease to 21.4% in Week 24. The proportion of care home deaths that involved COVID-19 also decreased; 17.3% of all deaths in care homes involved COVID-19 in Week 24, compared to 23.4% in Week 23.

Between Week 23 and Week 24, there was a decrease in the number of deaths involving COVID-19 in the majority of settings, apart from those taking place “elsewhere” where the number of COVID-19 deaths increased by one. The proportion of deaths involving COVID-19 occurring in hospitals increased to 59.7% in Week 24 (compared with 57.2% in Week 23), while the proportion of deaths occurring in care homes decreased (from 35.5% in Week 23 to 33.1% in Week 24).

Figure 8: The number of excess deaths in care homes and private homes decreased while the number of deaths in hospitals remains below the five-year average

Number of excess deaths by place of death between Week 1 and Week 24 of 2020 by place of occurrence, England and Wales

In Week 24, the number of excess deaths occurring in private homes and care homes decreased compared with Week 23. However, the number of excess deaths in private homes remain higher than before the late May Bank Holiday (Week 22), which affected death registrations. Meanwhile, excess deaths in hospitals and other communal establishments increased but remain below the five-year average in Week 24.

Figure 9 is based on date of death for deaths registered up to 20 June 2020, rather than date of registration. This means as more deaths are registered, deaths per day are likely to increase, especially later dates. Looking at the average number of deaths in Week 24, deaths occurring in hospitals have accounted for 59.0% of deaths and care homes have accounted for 33.3% of all deaths involving COVID-19, this may change as more deaths are registered. Although we expect numbers of deaths to increase as more are registered, it currently appears that deaths per day are decreasing.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is working with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Public Health England to better understand deaths that are occurring in care homes. From 28 April, we have published counts of deaths reported by care home operators to CQC involving COVID-19. More information can be found in our comparisons article.

Across the UK, there were 11,289 deaths (all causes) registered in Week 24 (ending 12 June), of which 1,205 deaths involved COVD-19. This was 605 more deaths than the UK five-year average.

There were five deaths involving COVID-19 in the UK in Week 11 (ending 13 March); this increased to 9,495 deaths registered in Week 16 (ending 17 April) but has fallen to 1,205 deaths registered in Week 24. In Week 24, England had the highest number of deaths involving COVID-19 with 1,057 deaths, followed by Wales with 57 deaths, Scotland with 70 deaths and Northern Ireland with 21 deaths.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths

Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths are those deaths registered in England and Wales in the stated week where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death. A doctor can certify the involvement of COVID-19 based on symptoms and clinical findings – a positive test result is not required.

Definitions of COVID-19 for deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland are similar to England and Wales.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in the Mortality statistics in England and Wales QMI.

To meet user needs, we publish very timely but provisional counts of death registrations in England and Wales in our Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional dataset. These are presented by sex, age group and regions (within England) as well as for Wales as a whole. To allow time for registration and processing, these figures are published 11 days after the week ends. Because of the rapidly changing situation, in this bulletin we have also given provisional updated totals based on the latest available death registrations, up to 20 June 2020.

Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our regular weekly deaths release now provides a separate breakdown of the numbers of deaths involving COVID-19: that is, where COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions. If a death certificate mentions COVID-19 it will not always be the main cause of death but may be a contributory factor. This new bulletin summarises the latest weekly information and will be updated each week during the pandemic.

These figures are different from the daily surveillance figures on COVID-19 deaths published by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on the GOV.UK website, for the UK as a whole and constituent countries. Figures in this report are derived from the formal process of death registration and may include cases where the doctor completing the death certificate diagnosed possible cases of COVID-19, for example, where this was based on relevant symptoms but no test for the virus was conducted.

In contrast to the GOV.UK figures, we include only deaths registered in England and Wales, which is the legal remit of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Table 1 provides an overview of the differences in definitions between sources.

From 29 April 2020, DHSC started to publish as their daily announced figures on deaths from COVID-19 for the UK, a new series that uses improved data for England produced by Public Health England (PHE). These figures provide a count of all deaths where a positive test for COVID-19 has been confirmed, wherever that death has taken place, a change from previously reporting only confirmed COVID-19 deaths in hospitals. Figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have already begun to include deaths outside hospitals, so this change ensured that the UK-wide series has a shared and common definitional coverage. A statement was published by ONS which provides more detail of the changes.

We will publish accompanying articles periodically, giving enhanced information such as age-standardised and age-specific mortality rates for recent time periods and breakdowns of deaths involving COVID-19 by associated pre-existing health conditions.

There is usually a delay of at least five days between occurrence and registration. More information on this issue can be found in our impact of registration delays release.

Our User guide to mortality statistics provides further information on data quality, legislation and procedures relating to mortality and includes a glossary of terms.

Figures are based on the date the death was registered, not when it occurred. There is usually a delay of at least five days between occurrence and registration. More information on this issue can be found in our impact of registration delays release.