The number of deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test who died solely from COVID-19

You asked

​​Of the 121,747 deaths identified as of people having died within 28 days of testing positive for Coronavirus, how many of these have died solely of Coronavirus and not those with Coronavirus?

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Our mortality data are different from the mortality figures 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.

Therefore, your specific query would be better placed with Public Health England (PHE).

Please see the following information about our COVID-19 mortality data, which may be of interest:

We count deaths that involve COVID-19 in the same way as any other deaths. We use the causes of death that are decided by doctors and coroners and presented on the death certificate.

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.

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.

For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk