Coronavirus: Death Certificates

(asked on 1st May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to ensure that covid-19 is recorded on the death certificates of people that died as a result of that disease.


Answered by
Nadine Dorries Portrait
Nadine Dorries
This question was answered on 7th May 2020

In response to the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020 in relation to death certification, the General Register Office and the Office for National Statistics published revised guidance to medical practitioners completing medical certificates cause of death (MCCD) for a period of emergency. Medical practitioners are expected to state the cause of death to the best of their knowledge and belief. This guidance confirms that COVID-19 is an acceptable direct or underlying cause of death for the purposes of completing the MCCD. In the emergency period the MCCD is electronically transferred to the registration office for the registrar to review and approve the MCCD, for the purpose of registering the death, and issue the death certificate to the next of kin/informant.

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