Deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 1 May 2020

Deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 1 May 2020
including a comparison of different data sources for COVID-19 related deaths in England and Wales with a date of death up to and including 1 May 2020

Today’s bulletin looks at the latest comparable data for deaths involving COVID-19 which occurred up to 1 May. It looks at the ONS’ latest statistics on the date a death occurred against similar breakdowns of the daily GOV.UK figures and the latest updates to that data now published daily by NHS England and Public Health Wales. It also contains the most up to date information on care home deaths in England and Wales based on data reported from care home operators to the Care Quality Commission and Care Inspectorate Wales where COVID-19 was suspected or confirmed as recorded by a clinician.

Main points

• A total of 33,408 deaths involving COVID-19 were registered in England and Wales between 28 December 2019 and 1 May 2020 (year to date).
• In England, including deaths that occurred up to 1 May but were registered up to 9 May, of those we have processed so far, the number involving COVID-19 was 33,337; the comparative number of death notifications reported by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on GOV.UK was 25,282 and NHS England numbers, which are deaths in hospitals only, showed 21,647 deaths.
• In Wales, including deaths that occurred up to 1 May but were registered up to 9 May, of those we have processed so far, the number involving COVID-19 was 1,641; the comparative number of death notifications reported by DHSC on GOV.UK was 969 and Public Health Wales (PHW) numbers, which come from the same source as DHSC figures but are continuously updated, showed 998 deaths.
• In England, the number of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes that were registered by 1 May was 7,903, while in Wales the number of deaths was 404.
• The Care Quality Commission (CQC) provides numbers of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes in England that were notified between 10 April and 8 May, which showed 8,314 deaths, of which 1,503 occurred in the week up to 8 May.
• The Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) provides the number of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes in Wales that occurred between 17 March and 8 May, which showed 350 deaths, of which 55 occurred in the week up to 1 May.

Go to our release

For deaths registered in the week ending May 1:

• The number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 1 May 2020 (Week 18) was 17,953, a decrease for the second week running, but 8,012 more than the five-year average for Week 18.
• Of the deaths registered in Week 18, 6,035 mentioned “novel coronavirus (COVID-19)”, which was 33.6% of all deaths; a decrease of 2,202 deaths compared with Week 17 (37.4% of all deaths).
• The number of deaths involving COVID-19 decreased in most age groups, the exceptions being age groups 15 to 19 and 35 to 39 years (which increased by 1 death each).
• The number of deaths in care homes (from all causes) for Week 18 decreased to 6,409; however, deaths involving COVID-19 as a percentage of all deaths in care homes rose to 37.8% compared with 35.3% in Week 17.
• For the first time, all regions showed a decrease in the percentage of deaths involving COVID-19 in week 18. The South East had the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, making this the first week that London did not have the highest count.
• In Wales, there were 281 deaths registered in Week 18 involving COVID-19, accounting for 30.2% of all deaths registered.
• Of deaths involving COVID-19 registered up to Week 18, 68.5% (22,873 deaths) occurred in hospital with the remainder mainly occurring in care homes (8,312), private homes (1,562) and hospices (386).
• The number of deaths registered in the UK in the week ending 1 May 2020 (Week 18) was 20,033 of which 6,676 deaths involved COVID-19.

Read more here

Editor’s note

• CQC is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Notifications about deaths in care homes must be sent to CQC without delay and are typically provided within 2-3 days of death. The data provided by CQC is counts of deaths each day of care home residents who died in care homes, by date of notification. The data is from April 10 when CQC introduced a new way to understand whether COVID-19 was involved in the death.
• The Care Inspectorate Wales is an independent regulator of social care and childcare in Wales. The CIW publishes the of number of deaths in care homes where COVID-19 was suspected or confirmed as recorded by a clinician.

Nick Stripe will be available for broadcast interviews throughout the day. Please contact 0845 604 1858 or email media.relations@ons.gov.uk

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