You asked

​​Please supply the total number of recorded deaths in the UK between 23 March and 23 April 2020, and the same figure for the same period in 2019.

We said

Thank you for your request.

We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales, using the information supplied on the death certificate. Deaths for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be obtained at NR Scotland and NISRA respectively.

Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional has weekly data, which runs from Saturday to Friday. Therefore, the dates available are 20 March 2020 to 17 April 2020 (latest available data). Please see this in the table below.

Total deaths for this period 2020: 79,040

Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional 2019 also has weekly figures, which run from Saturday to Friday, the comparable dates are w/e 22 March until w/e 19 April 2019. Please see this in the table below.

Total deaths for this period 2019: 49,711

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the exact dates requested as part of the FOI regime, as this would be a request for bespoke analysis of data. Such services fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs, where appropriate.

If you would like to discuss a request for bespoke data, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.