Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how deaths caused by covid-19 are being reported (a) in and (b) outside of the NHS and care sector; and when the Government plans to publish the combined data on those deaths.

From the start of the pandemic, the Department has reported a daily count of COVID-19 deaths in hospitals as that provided the most up to date figures on a consistent basis.

However, the Government has since been developing expanded approaches to daily statistics, to provide a daily count with fixed, defined and transparent coverage, but to do so in a way that addresses all settings, not just deaths in hospital. On 29 April 2020 the Government introduced a new daily death reporting protocol which will include deaths that have occurred in all settings where there has been a positive COVID-19 test, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community. More information can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/daily-death-reporting-now-includes-all-positive-covid-19-deaths

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is also publishing statistics from deaths registered in a given week, which include deaths outside hospital such as care homes. From 28 April 2020, the ONS will publish counts of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes, based on reporting from care home operators to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The data from the CQC will put deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes in proper context, alongside the ONS’s more comprehensive figures.