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Originally Posted by Paul
So basically, 17,371 people died just from covid, for the rest - it [possibly] contributed to their death, but they may (or may not) have died anyway - is that about right ?
Doesnt seem like anything new, we have always known that some people classed as dying from the virus may have died anyway, or died in an unrelated manner (e.g. accident).
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Not quite, the ONS statistics files are pretty clear that the only count deaths where COVID is an underlying cause. From their 2020 summary report;
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We use the term “due to COVID-19” when referring only to deaths with an underlying cause of death as COVID-19.
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For underlying conditions, the following definition is used;
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We define a pre-existing condition here as the last health condition mentioned on the first part of the death certificate (the direct sequence of events leading to death) when it is recorded on a lower line to, and therefore clearly preceding, the coronavirus (COVID-19); and all mentions in the second part, which are independent contributory factors in the death. Mentions of fatigue and ‘old age’ (with ICD-10 codes R53, R54) were excluded as these are generally not valid medical conditions for death certification on their own.
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Yeah, you could have COVID and then get run over by a truck but COVID would not be a cause of death on the death certificate