You asked
Can you confirm that any deaths involving covid that was caused by respiratory issues would be listed under the respiratory deaths?
We said
Thank you for your request.
Our provisional weekly deaths publication reports the number of death registrations where respiratory disease was recorded as the underlying cause. Respiratory disease is defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes J00-J99 and includes influenza, pneumonia, etc. COVID-19 is defined by the emergency ICD-10 codes U.701 and U.702. The WHO provide an online ICD code look-up tool.
Owing to a difference in the way we report deaths for these cause groups, it is possible that some deaths are counted in both the respiratory and COVID-19 categories. This is because for respiratory disease, we publish the number of deaths where it was recorded as the underlying cause only. This is compared to the number of deaths that 'involved' COVID-19 i.e. the number of deaths that mentioned COVID-19 anywhere on the death certificate, whether as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor. A death registration that has respiratory disease recorded as the underlying cause of death and COVID-19 recorded as a contributory factor would appear in both counts.
If you require any further information, please feel free to contact health.data@ons.gov.uk directly.