You asked
Please provide U.K. figures for 2020 for deaths where COVID-19 was the only cause of death.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for 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.
However, we have collaborated with Scotland and Northern Ireland to produce headline COVID-19 figures for the UK, specifically the number of deaths involving COVID i.e. deaths where COVID was mentioned either as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor. This data can be found in the latest provisional weekly deaths publication.
Please see the following publication: Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales, produced in response to COVID-19. This publication provides the number of deaths where COVID-19 was recorded as the sole condition on the death certificate for March to June 2020. According to this publication, 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 define a pre-existing condition 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".
We are currently reassessing this publication and will be releasing an update with analysis of data from July onwards. The final release date will be announced on our Release Calendar.