You asked
Please provide the exact number of people that have died solely from Covid-19 with no underlying health conditions from 1 January 2020 to 31 January 2021?
Of the total number of people who have died with no underlying health conditions, could you please tell me how many 0-16 year olds have died from Covid-19?
Of the total number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive test for Covid 19, for any reason, could you please provide a breakdown of the causes of death?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Deaths from COVID-19 with no pre-existing conditions January 2020 to January 2021:
Please see the following previously published FOI response, which provides the answer to your FOI request regarding COVID-19 deaths with and without pre-existing conditions.
COVID-19 deaths with no pre-existing conditions by age:
In order to provide the number of deaths involving COVID-19 with no underlying health conditions by age, we would need to create bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of positive test:
We count deaths that involve COVID-19 in the same way as any other deaths – using the causes of death that are decided by doctors and coroners.
When a person dies, in most cases a doctor writes a medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) which is then recorded in the death registration (at a local authority registration office). The details are printed out as the official 'death certificate' for the next of kin. The same information is sent electronically from the registration office to ONS for us to produce statistics about causes of death. For some deaths, such as when the death was due to an accident or violence, there is a coroner's inquest to establish the facts and the coroner then decides the cause of death and sends their findings to the local registrar.
Doctors are required by law to certify the cause of death 'to the best of their knowledge and belief'. That means they use their medical expertise to decide the cause based on symptoms, physical examination, hospital records, laboratory tests, and all the other information available. If death is certified by a coroner, the Coroner's Court follows legal rules of evidence when deciding the causes of death. For deaths involving COVID-19, whether or not there was a positive test result is only one piece of information to be taken into account, alongside the patient's symptoms and other evidence. So a death can be certified as involving COVID-19 without a positive test, based on any sound medical evidence, like observed symptoms or X-ray images of the lungs. In the absence of a test result, the doctor may sometimes certify the death as 'suspected' COVID-19.
ONS data as described here are different from the figures on 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.
COVID-19 deaths are recorded weekly within our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales publication.
We have provided the summed total from March 2020 to 5 March 2021 which is the latest available data.
We use the term "due to COVID-19" when referring only to deaths where that illness was recorded as the underlying cause of death. We use the term "involving COVID-19" when referring to deaths that had that illness mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not.
Deaths involving and due to COVID-19, England and Wales, deaths registered in 2020 and 2021:
For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk