You asked
I would like to know the total number of deaths from COVID-19, where Covid-19 was the cause of death and the person was not simply infected with Covid-19 at the time of death.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Our mortality data is taken from the information on death certificates. When we receive the data, it shows the causes of death and there can be more than one cause listed. Therefore, we can only report on what is recorded as the cause of death during this process. More information about the information included on the death certificate and our death registration process can be found in our mortality statistics user guide, accessible via the following link: User Guide to Mortality Statistics.
Please see the below information, which provides details of how we process COVID-19 death data:
For deaths involving COVID-19 we use WHO International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision.
U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified: Coding-Hint
Use this code when COVID-19 has been confirmed by laboratory testing irrespective of severity of clinical signs or symptoms. Use additional code, if desired, to identify pneumonia or other manifestations.
Excluding:
Coronavirus infection, unspecified site (B34.2)
Coronavirus as the cause of diseases classified to other chapters (B97.2)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], unspecified (U04.9)
U07.2 COVID-19, virus not identified: Coding-Hint
Use this code when COVID-19 is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically but laboratory testing is inconclusive or not available. Use additional code, if desired, to identify pneumonia or other manifestations
Excluding:
Coronavirus infection, unspecified site (B34.2) COVID-19:
confirmed by laboratory testing (U07.1)
special screening examination (Z11.5)
suspected but ruled out by negative laboratory results (Z03.8)
The below information can found in our Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales: deaths occurring in May 2020 bulletin, which may be of interest to you:
There were 46,687 deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) that occurred between 1 March and 31 May 2020 registered up to 6 June 2020 in England and Wales; of these, 43,763 had COVID-19 assigned as 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 done. Of the 43,763 deaths with an underlying cause of COVID-19, 3,622 (8.3%) were classified as "suspected" COVID-19. Including mentions, "suspected" COVID-19 was recorded on 8.7% of all deaths involving COVID-19.
This bulletin will be updated on 17 July 2020: https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwalesjune2020