You asked
I would like to know the number of deaths recorded in England and Wales in all sexes listed as age groups up to 65 and 65 and over as a direct result of Covid-19. May I request this data stating these numbers from March 1st 2020 to January 20th 2021.
All numbers must be a direct result of Covid-19 with no other morbidities.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
The number of deaths where COVID-19 was recorded as the sole condition on the death certificate by sex and five year age group, for March to June 2020, can be found via the following link: Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales.
This publication had been paused in the summer of 2020 due to the decrease in the number of deaths. However, we have now made the decision to publish this information from July onwards again. These figures will now be included in our Deaths registered monthly in England and Wales starting 26 February 2021.
As such, data showing deaths where COVID-19 was the only condition on the death certificate by age and sex from July 2020 onwards are considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.
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". 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.
You may also be interested in the following COVID-19 mortality analysis:
We have continued to publish monthly mortality analysis for July to December 2020 but at present this doesn't include the number of deaths where COVID-19 was the sole condition, or analysis of pre-existing condition.
Provisional numbers of deaths registered in 2020, from all causes and involving COVID-19 for England and Wales, can be found in the latest provisional weekly deaths publication. This publication includes a breakdown of deaths 'due to' COVID-19 (where it was recorded as the underlying cause of death) and deaths 'involving' COVID-19 (where it was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate). This breakdown is available in Figure 2 of the main article (data are available to download in excel format underneath the chart).