Has mortality due to other causes increased during the Covid-19 pandemic? Early evidence from England and Wales

Sotiris Vandoros

This study used weekly (provisional) mortality data from England and Wales for years 2019 and 2020, obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).12 Data were extracted on 7 April 2020 and updated on 14 April 2020 following the new ONS release on the same day. Data were reported by sex, age group and Region. I used the total number of deaths as well as the number of deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, in order to calculate the number of deaths that were not (at least officially) attributed to Covid-19. Data on Covid-19 deaths are also provided by the Department of Health and Social Care,13 but these exclude deaths that occurred outside hospital. The aim was to see whether there was any unexpected change in the number deaths for people who had not contracted the virus, in the current situation. It is worth noting that according to the data source, data by sex or age group may be incomplete, so they might not sum to the total number of deaths.