Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish data on the number of deaths per 100,000 of the population from COVID-19 on a regular basis for each (1) region, and (2) nation, in (a) the UK, and (b) other countries.

Statistics on deaths involving COVID-19 are available from a range of sources. The Department publishes a daily count, covering the whole of the United Kingdom, and showing how many people have died following a positive test. That source does not provide a breakdown by region or other factors, but it is sourced directly from data published separately by Public Health organisations in each of the four nations of the UK, and each of those provides a detailed count by region, local authority or health board. Data from Public Health England, for example, provides both a trend series and a breakdown by local authority.

Separately, the Office for National Statistics now publishes very detailed data each week, drawing on data from death registration systems. Those statistics include a breakdown by region, age and gender for England and Wales and also provides direct links to equivalent sources for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Our current best source of international comparisons is the daily tracker published by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and that is the source used to inform the daily Downing Street press briefings.