Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths of individuals under the age of 65 have been attributed to COVID-19 since 1 February; and of those, how many of those individuals did not have comorbidities.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Lord Robathan,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths of individuals under the age of 65 have been attributed to COVID-19 since 1 February; and of those, how many of those individuals did not have comorbidities (HL8386).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. The most recent year for which mortality statistics are available is 2019 however we do publish provisional statistics for weekly death registrations which are currently published for deaths registered up to 11 September 2020. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for publishing the number of deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

Cause of death is defined using the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th edition (ICD-10). Deaths involving COVID-19, defined as either as a contributory or underlying cause of death are identified by the ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2.

The most recent weekly deaths data, based on date of registration, shows that there were 5,550 deaths involving COVID-19 registered for individuals under the age of 65 between 1 February and 11 September 2020.

The latest data available on deaths involving COVID-19 by age group and pre-existing conditions was published in ‘Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales: deaths occurring in June 2020’. These figures are based on the date of occurrence rather than date of registration. These data show that there were 5,364 deaths involving COVID-19 that occurred between March and June 2020 to individuals under the age of 65. Of these, 772 (14.4%) did not have a pre-existing condition.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdrreferencetables

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending11september2020

[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurringinjune2020