Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to the medical profession on whether covid-19 is recorded as (a) the primary cause and (b) a contributory factor when registering a death.

In response to the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020 in relation to death certification, the General Register Office/Home Office and the Office for National Statistics published revised guidance to medical practitioners completing medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) for a period of emergency. This guidance confirms that COVID-19 is an acceptable direct or underlying cause of death for the purposes of completing the MCCD.

The cause of death is certified by a medical practitioner. The medical profession is not responsible for registering a death – this is the role of the registrar.