UK deaths due to COVID-19 pneumonitis

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How many people in the UK died with COVID-19 pneumonitis as their PRIMARY CAUSE OF DEATH between 1st January 2020-31st December 2020?

How many people in the UK died with COVID-19 pneumonitis as their PRIMARY CAUSE OF DEATH between 1st January 2021-31st May 2021?

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Thank you for your enquiry

We are responsible for the production of Mortality data for England and Wales, this is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration. 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.

The doctor or coroner certifying a death can record more than one health condition or event on the form. The medical certificate of cause of death has two parts, Part 1 contains the sequence of health conditions or events leading directly to death, while Part 2 can contain other health conditions that contributed to the death but were not part of the direct sequence. For statistical purposes one of the health conditions on the certificate is chosen as the 'underlying cause of death'. The underlying cause of death is defined as the health condition or event that started the train of events leading to death and is worked out according to rules from the World Health Organisation (WHO). COVID-19 is the underlying cause of death in around 92% of deaths where it was mentioned on the death certificate.

You can read in detail about the coding of causes of death and identifying the underlying cause in the ONS User guide to mortality statistics and the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) instruction manual.

In Figure 2 of the Deaths Registered weekly in England and Wales publication, using the download the data link you can see weekly figures of deaths involving COVID-19 and deaths due to COVID-19.  This information is updated every Tuesday.

We use the term "due to COVID-19" or "due to influenza and pneumonia" when referring only to deaths where that illness was recorded as the underlying cause of death. We use the term "involving COVID-19" or "involving influenza and pneumonia" when referring to deaths that had that illness mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not.

For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.