Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the first 100,000 people to die as a result of COVID-19 died in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland; how many of those died (a) in hospital, (b) in care homes, and (c) elsewhere; and how many of those were (i) over 80 years old, (ii) over 70 years old, (iii) under 50 years old, (iv) BAME, (v) male, and (vi) female.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Lord Marlesford DL
House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

03 March 2021

Dear Lord Marlesford,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of the first 100,000 people to die as a result of COVID-19 died in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland; how many of those died (a) in hospital, (b) in care homes, and (c) elsewhere; and how many of those were (i) over 80 years old, (ii) over 70 years old, (iii) under 50 years old, (iv) BAME, (v) male, and (vi) female (HL13602).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on deaths in England and Wales and produces a weekly report[1] on provisional numbers of deaths involving COVID-19. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. National Records for Scotland[2] and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency[3] are responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

We cannot precisely organise deaths involving COVID-19 into the ‘first 100,000’ at this time. However, we have provided figures for deaths registered up to the end of Week 2 of 2021 (ending 15 January 2021) which is when deaths involving COVID-19 first passed 100,000 in total.

Table 1 below provides the number of deaths involving COVID-19 in the UK, and the proportion of these in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Table 2 provides the number of deaths involving COVID-19 by place of death in each UK country. Table 3 provides the number of deaths involving COVID by age group and sex. Please note that the UK totals in Table 3 are slightly different from Tables 1 and 2, as published data by age group and sex are only available for England and Wales combined (including non-residents) rather than England and Wales as individual countries.

The ONS has published a report on ethnic contrasts in deaths involving COVID-19 in England and Wales[4]. Table 4 shows the number of deaths involving COVID-19 in England and Wales; data have been published for deaths that occurred (rather than were registered) between 2 March 2020 and 28 July 2020. Please note this data includes only deaths that could be linked to the 2011 Census, as this was necessary to obtain ethnic group data. Because the method of calculation is different, the numbers do not relate directly to those in Tables 1 to 3.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number and proportion of deaths involving COVID-19, weeks ending 13 March 2020 to 15 January 2021, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland [5][6][7][8][9]

Source: ONS, NRS, and NISRA

Table 2: Number of deaths involving COVID-19, weeks ending 13 March 2020 to 15 January 2021 by place of occurrence, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland [10][11]

Source: ONS, NRS and NISRA

Table 3: Number of deaths involving COVID-19, weeks ending 13 March 2020 to 15 January 2021, by broad age group and sex, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Source: ONS, NRS and NISRA

Table 4: Number of deaths involving COVID-19 by ethnic group and sex, deaths occurring 2 March 2020 to 28 July 2020, England and Wales[12][13]

Source: ONS

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest

[2]https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/

[3]https://www.nisra.gov.uk/

[4]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/updatingethniccontrastsindeathsinvolvingthecoronaviruscovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurring2marchto28july2020

[5] Weeks for Scotland run Monday to Sunday rather than Saturday to Friday, so Week 2 of 2021 is week ending 11th January 2021 rather than week ending 15 January 2021

[6] Figures for individual countries exclude deaths of non-residents. Figures for “England and Wales” totals include non-residents of England and Wales; for this reason, UK totals in Table 3 differ from Tables 1 and 2.

[7] Data in Tables 1, 3 and 3 are based on date a death was registered rather than occurred. Data in Table 4 are based on the date a death occurred, registered up to 24 August 2020. There is a delay between a death occurring and it being registered

[8] All figures for 2020 and 2021 are provisional.

[9] The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) definitions are as follows: coronavirus (COVID-19) (U07.1 and U07.2). We use the term “involving COVID-19” when referring to deaths that mentioned these ICD-10 codes anywhere on the death certificate, whether as the underlying cause of death or elsewhere.

[10] Deaths at home are those at the usual residence of the deceased (according to the informant)‚ where this is not a communal establishment. Other Communal Establishments include (for example) prisons, student residences, and hotels. Elsewhere includes all places not covered above.

[11] "Other" includes deaths in communal establishments other than hospitals and care homes, in hospices, and that occurred "elsewhere".

[12]Data in Table 4 includes only death records that could be linked to the 2011 Census, to obtain ethnic group data.

[13]The detailed composition of each ethnic group is available to download: https://www.ons.gov.uk/download/table?format=xlsx&uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/updatingethniccontrastsindeathsinvolvingthecoronaviruscovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurring2marchto28july2020/22f0c996.json