You asked

You provide mortality data for COVID-19 by counting death certificates that mention U07.1 or U07.2. However, you expressly state that you merge the two ICD-10 codes when presenting "COVID-19 deaths." Please provide deconflated statistics where U07.1 and U07.2 codes are counted separately for the entirety of the period that you have the data for.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunately, we would be unable to provide you COVID-19 statistics broken down by U07.1 and U07.2 codes. In order to fulfil this request, we would need use a high level of statistical skill and judgement in order 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.

However, please see the following publication: Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales: deaths occurring in June 2020. This publication states that, between 1 March and 30 June 2020, there were 218,837 deaths that occurred in England and Wales and that were registered by 4 July 2020.

Over a fifth of these deaths (23.0%) involved the coronavirus (COVID-19) (50,335 deaths). The doctor certifying a death can list all causes in the chain of events that led to the death and pre-existing conditions that may have contributed to the death. Using this information, we determine an underlying cause of death. More information on this process can be found in our user guide. In the majority of cases (46,736 deaths, 92.8%) where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, it was found to be the underlying cause of death.

Our definition of COVID-19 includes some cases where the certifying doctor suspected the death involved COVID-19 but was not certain, for example, because no test was conducted. Of the 46,736 deaths with an underlying cause of COVID-19, 3,763 (8.1%) were classified as "suspected" COVID-19. Including mentions, "suspected" COVID-19 was recorded on 8.4% (4,251 deaths) of all deaths involving COVID-19.

If you would like to discuss your requirements further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.