Deaths of those under 60 from COVID-19 only

You asked

Please could you let me know the total number of deaths in the UK for people below the age of 60, with no underlying health issues where Covid 19 was the sole cause of death.

The period is to be from between April 1st 2020 to December 31st 2020

We said

Thank you for your request.

We are responsible for the provision of mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

We have been producing the following publication, Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales, in the response to COVID-19. This publication provides a greater insight into the leading underlying causes of death groups for deaths occurring in England and Wales between March and June 2020.

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. From March to June 2020 data, there have been 46,736 deaths involving COVID-19 of which 4,476 deaths had no pre-existing conditions

We can provide information for age bands from 0-44, then five-year age bands up to 90+ thereafter, this is available in table 6a.

This publication has been paused. However, we are looking to resume analysis of COVID-19 deaths with no underlying conditions in the future.

As such, deaths from COVID-19 only by age from July to December 2020 is considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.

This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest.  This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.

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 and leading causes of death. Leading causes is also available on table 11 and includes figures for the five-year average.

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