Counting deaths involving coronavirus: a year in review

Categories: Coronavirus, Population

Since before the pandemic the Office for National Statistics has been publishing death registrations in England and Wales on a weekly basis. What was once a little-known dataset has become one of the most important and widely used documents for tracking deaths throughout the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Today’s deaths registered weekly in England and Wales marks the end of 2020 death registration. But how does 2020 compare to previous years? Sarah Caul explains the complexities behind mortality comparisons…

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The virus, the vaccine and GDP: Measuring healthcare through the pandemic

Categories: ONS
Hospital corridor

Measuring the work of public services has probably never been as challenging as in recent months, with many services being reduced due to the pandemic while new services, such as track and trace, have been brought on stream to combat it. Here Jonathan Athow writes about how we have adjusted our previous estimates and how we expanding our statistics to include these new types of services. 

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What do the latest analyses from ONS and PHE tell us about ethnic inequalities in COVID-19?

Categories: Coronavirus, ONS

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England, people in some ethnic groups, particularly Black and Asian groups, were more likely to be infected, diagnosed and die with COVID-19 than people in the White group. The reasons for this are complex and recent reports by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and the Race Disparity Unit summarise the available evidence to date on reasons for the inequalities reported. It is critical that we understand the reasons in order that we can take steps to protect people from across the population. With so much analysis published, it can be difficult to keep up to date with what it shows. Here Chris White (Office for National Statistics) and Justine Fitzpatrick (Public Health England) summarise the latest reports.

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