Deaths related to Covid-19 (FOI)

Request

Please can you share the number of deaths directly from Covid-19 in 2020.

Response

Where Covid is listed in any part of the cause of death, the death is being reported as ‘Covid related’. This is in line with international reporting methods and has been our consistent approach.

Causes of death are presented as a narrative of the person’s state of health at the point of their death so as to provide comprehensive details of the conditions that lead to their death as follows (with examples):

1a The disease or condition that lead to the death (eg Respiratory Failure)

1b Antecedent causes (eg Pneumonia)

1c Morbid conditions giving rise to the above causes (eg COVID-19)

2. Other significant conditions contributing to the death but not related to the disease or condition causing it (eg Diabetes Mellitus, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

In the above examples, a person died of respiratory failure, due to pneumonia brought on by COVID-19 and they had relevant underlying health conditions which contributed to the death.

Where Covid is listed in section 2, Covid contributed to the death so that it requires / merits inclusion as a cause of death. It may be included alongside other underlying health conditions to form a broader picture of the person’s state of health.

The narrative nature of a death certification is an important requirement and followed internationally. By reporting Covid deaths as ‘Covid-related’ (in line with international standards), this allows statistics to be gathered and presented notwithstanding the individual variations / nuances of each death as above.

The information requested is publically available on www.gov.je in response to a previous FOI request. Please see the following link:

Recording of Covid-19 related deaths (FOI)

Article applied

Article 23: Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for the information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information