Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed have died due to COVID-19 in England since 2 September.

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 Mendelsohn

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

22 November 2021

Dear Lord Mendelsohn,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed have died due to COVID-19 in England since 2 September (HL4024).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. National Records for Scotland (1) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (2) are responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

The mortality statistics published by the ONS are based on the causes of death provided by the certifying doctor (or in some cases coroner). The death certificate lists only those health conditions or circumstances which led directly to the death or otherwise contributed to it but does not include any other health conditions the deceased suffered from if the certifier did not consider them relevant to the death. Immunosuppression can arise directly from a diagnosed health condition or from the side-effects of treatment, and there is no definitive list of causes of death linked to immunosuppression. Therefore, we are able to provide the number of deaths due to COVID-19 where certain health conditions commonly associated with immunosuppression were also mentioned on the death certificate, but this does not provide a comprehensive count of all deaths due to COVID-19 where immunosuppression might have been involved.

Table 1 shows the number of deaths registered due to COVID-19, where diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism were mentioned on the death certificate, in England and Wales between 2 September to 5 November 2021.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number (3) of deaths (4) registered (5) due to COVID-19 where diseases (6) of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (7) were mentioned on the death certificate, England and Wales, 2 September to 5 November 2021 (8).

Source: Office for National Statistics

(1) https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/

(2) https://www.nisra.gov.uk/

(3) Figures are provisional.

(4) Deaths for England and Wales exclude non-residents.

(5) Based on date a death was registered rather than occurred.

(6) The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) definitions are as follows: coronavirus (COVID-19) (U.071, U.072, U.099, U.109) and Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (D50 to D89).

(7) Deaths where diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism were mentioned includes deaths that have these causes mentioned on the death certificate but not as the underlying cause of death.

(8) These figures are calculated using the most up-to-date data we have available to get the most accurate estimates.