Confirmed Covid-19 deaths in under 60 age group (FOI)

​​Request

How many people under the age of 60 have died Of covid , not with covid?

Response

As at 28 January 2021 three persons under the age of 60 years of age have died where COVID-19 is certified as one of the causes of death on the death registration.

A doctor is required to certify the condition(s) which caused a person’s death. These causes of death, as certified, are then registered by the Superintendent Registrar in the death register, who does not alter or manipulate the listed conditions in any way, as required by law.

Not all conditions which a person suffers with at the time of their death will or should be certified as a cause of death and registered; only those which caused the death. For example: 

1. Where a person has a condition / more than one condition at the time of their death which caused their death, the condition(s) are listed as a cause of death on their death registration ie the condition(s) caused their death.

2. If they had a condition at the time of their death which did not cause their death, it is not certified as a cause of death by a qualified doctor and therefore does not form part of the registration of a death.

3. It is therefore possible (and has happened) that a person had Covid at the time of their death but the death was not caused by Covid. Covid is (in these circumstances) therefore not certified by the doctor as a cause of death and does not form part of the registration or published Covid death statistics.

The policies for medical certification of Covid deaths were adopted in March 2020 following internationally agreed principles and as used by the NHS. These have remained unchanged since that time so there has been no change in either the certification or indeed the way the Superintendent Registrar reports deaths throughout the pandemic.