You asked
Please provide coronavirus deaths in the UK from October 2019 until December 2020. I would like deaths that only occurred from the Covid-19 Virus & with no underlying health conditions, also the deaths that occurred within the 28 days of testing positive beforehand.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data 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.
Our data is derived from the death certificate issued during the registration of death.
You can read in detail about the process of counting deaths and producing mortality statistics in our ONS User guide to mortality statistics.
Our COVID-19 mortality data are different from the figures for 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.
Public Health England would be better placed to assist with enquiries regarding deaths within 28 days of a positive test. They can be contacted via email at: wn_coronavirus@phe.gov.uk for COVID-19 related queries, or enquiries@phe.gov.uk for regular enquiries.
Deaths from COVID-19 only in England and Wales:
We have been producing the following publication, Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales, in the response to COVID-19. Table 6a of this publication provides the number of deaths from COVID-19 where no other underlying health conditions were mentioned on the death certificate in England and Wales between March and June 2020.
We define a pre-existing condition here 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". 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.
We are currently reassessing this publication and will be releasing an update soon analysing data from July onwards.
The final release date will be announced on our Release Calendar.