You asked

Please provide the following information:​

  1. Out of the 45,675 covid deaths how many of these were actually tested for Covid?
  2. How many of the 45,675 were care home deaths?
  3. How many of the 45,675 that were actually tested for COVID actually died as a direct result of Covid and how many died of other diseases such as cancer, stroke, heart attacks etc?
  4. How many people have died of flu this year?
  5. How many people died of flu in 2019 and 2018?
  6. How many people have died of Pneumonia this year?
  7. How many people died of pneumonia in 2019 and 2020?
  8. I would like to see all death certificates 45, 675 how do I access this information?

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:

a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury

Information on how the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) is completed is available here. Due to how we collate our data, we do not have access to COVID-19 test results.

The latest provisional weekly deaths are available in our Provisional weekly deaths publication. This publication is updated every Tuesday.

This publication provides:

  • Total number of deaths from all causes
  • Number of deaths due to respiratory disease (ICD-10 J00-J99).
  • Number of deaths involving COVID-19 (ICD-10 U07.1 (COVID-19 positive test) and U07.2 (suspected COVID-19, no test completed)).
  • Number of deaths due to COVID-19 (please see the excel chart data file, under Figure 2).
  • Flu and Pneumonia deaths, both due to (underlying cause of death) and involving (mentions).
  • Weekly care home deaths are available in the following publication: Death registrations and occurrences by local authority and health board

We have been producing the following publication in the response to COVID-19: Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales. Tables 5, 6a, 6b, and 6c of this publication provide COVID-19 death figures broken down by underlying health condition in England and Wales between March and June 2020. Please also see the following information, showing the number and percentage of deaths with and without pre-existing health conditions from March to June 2020.

We define a pre-existing condition here 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.

COVID-19 deaths with underlying health conditions

Figures for COVID-19 deaths with underlying health conditions are available on Table 5 of the above publication. Main pre-existing causes are grouped using the ONS Leading Causes of Deaths list and International Classification of Disease version 10 blocks of causes.

  • With pre-existing condition: England and Wales – 45,859
  • With pre-existing condition: England – 43,640
  • With pre-existing condition: Wales – 2156

COVID-19 deaths with no underlying health condition

Figures for COVID-19 deaths with no underlying health conditions are available on Table 5, this means where no other underlying condition was listed on the death certificate.

  • No pre-existing condition: England and Wales – 4476
  • No pre-existing condition: England – 4169
  • No pre-existing condition: Wales – 294

We are no longer publishing monthly COVID-19 deaths with details around the death such as pre-existing conditions or no underlying cause. This is due to the decrease in the number of COVID-19 related deaths. Whilst the number of infections appear to be rising, the number of COVID-19 deaths from July onwards are very small and pose a disclosure risk, making it possible to identify individual records.

We will certainly look to publish this data again should there be a significant rise in deaths, this is required for us to avoid risk of disclosure. We are constantly reassessing this to see how we can continue to publish analysis to inform users.

However, you can find provisional monthly death registration data for England and Wales, broken down by sex, age and country are now available in this monthly publication: Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales. This publication contains data from July onwards and includes deaths due to COVID-19 (we use the term "due to COVID-19" when referring only to deaths with an underlying cause of death of COVID-19,) and other leading causes of death.

Influenza:

Regarding your enquiry for Influenza and pneumonia for 2018 and 2019, these can be found using our NOMIS webservice.

Mortality statistics – underlying cause, sex and age

ONS Crown Copyright Reserved: 2018

Mortality statistics – underlying cause, sex and age

ONS Crown Copyright Reserved: 2019

Death certificates:

We would be unable to disclose a copy or scan of every death certificate where coronavirus is mentioned as a cause of death. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it an offence for us to release personal information. Personal information is any information held by the Board for statistical purposes that would identify an individual or a body corporate. This includes individuals that are deceased. As disclosure of the requested information is prohibited by another enactment, the information is considered exempt according to Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

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