For the week ending March 7, 2025, weekly deaths in England and Wales were 124 below the number expected, compared with 460 fewer than expected in the previous week. In late 2022, and through early 2023, excess deaths were elevated for a number of weeks, with the excess deaths figure for the week ending January 13, 2023, the highest since February 2021. In the middle of April 2020, at the height of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there were almost 12,000 excess deaths a week recorded in England and Wales. It was not until two months later, in the week ending June 19, 2020, that the number of deaths began to be lower than the five-year average for the corresponding week. Most deaths since 1918 in 2020 In 2020, there were 689,629 deaths in the United Kingdom, making that year the deadliest since 1918, at the height of the Spanish influenza pandemic. As seen in the excess death figures, April 2020 was by far the worst month in terms of deaths during the pandemic. The weekly number of deaths for weeks 16 and 17 of that year were 22,351, and 21,997 respectively. Although the number of deaths fell to more usual levels for the rest of that year, a winter wave of the disease led to a high number of deaths in January 2021, with 18,676 deaths recorded in the fourth week of that year. For the whole of 2021, there were 667,479 deaths in the UK, 22,150 fewer than in 2020. Life expectancy in the UK goes into reverse In 2022, life expectancy at birth for women in the UK was 82.6 years, while for men it was 78.6 years. This was the lowest life expectancy in the country for ten years, and came after life expectancy improvements stalled throughout the 2010s, and then declined from 2020 onwards. There is also quite a significant regional difference in life expectancy in the UK. In the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, for example, the life expectancy for men was 81.5 years, and 86.5 years for women. By contrast, in Blackpool, in North West England, male life expectancy was just 73.1 years, while for women life expectancy was lowest in Glasgow, at 78 years.

On March 4, 2020, the first death as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19) was recorded in the United Kingdom (UK). The number of deaths in the UK has increased significantly since then. As of January 13, 2023, the number of confirmed deaths due to coronavirus in the UK amounted to 202,157. On January 21, 2021, 1,370 deaths were recorded, which was the highest total in single day in the UK since the outbreak began.

Number of deaths among highest in Europe
The UK has had the highest number of deaths from coronavirus in western Europe. In terms of rate of coronavirus deaths, the UK has recorded 297.8 deaths per 100,000 population.

Cases in the UK The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK was 24,243,393 as of January 13, 2023. The South East has the highest number of first-episode confirmed cases of the virus in the UK with 3,123,050 cases, while London and the North West have 2,912,859 and 2,580,090 confirmed cases respectively. As of January 16, the UK has had 50 new cases per 100,000 in the last seven days.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19), non-COVID-19 deaths and all deaths by vaccination status, broken down by age group.

Between January 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022, there were approximately 30.6 thousand deaths involving COVID-19 among 80 to 89 year olds in England, with over 14 thousand deaths occurring among unvaccinated people in this age group. Across all the age groups in the provided time interval, deaths involving COVID-19 among the unvaccinated population was around double the amount of people who received at least two doses of a vaccine. For further information about the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Between 1953 and 2021, the death rate of the United Kingdom fluctuated between a high of 12.2 deaths per 1,000 people in 1962 and a low of 8.7 in 2011. From 2011 onwards, the death rate creeped up slightly and, in 2020, reached 10.3 deaths per 1,000 people. In 2021, the most recent year provided here, the death rate was ten, a decline from 2020 but still higher than in almost every year in the twenty-first century. The recent spike in the death rate corresponds to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, with the first cases recorded in early 2020. Most deaths since 1918 in 2020 In 2020, there were 689,629 deaths in the United Kingdom, the highest in more than a century. Although there were fewer deaths in 2021, at 667,479, this was still far higher than in recent years. When looking at the weekly deaths in England and Wales for this time period, two periods stand out for reporting far more deaths than usual. The first period was between weeks 13 and 22 of 2020, which saw two weeks in late April report more than 20,000 deaths. Excess deaths for the week ending April 17, 2020, were 11,854, and 11,539 for the following week. Another wave of deaths occurred in January 2021, when there were more than 18,000 deaths per week between weeks three and five of that year. Improvements to life expectancy slowing Between 2020 and 2022, life expectancy in the United Kingdom was approximately 82.57 years for women and 78.57 years for men. Compared with life expectancy in 1980/82 this marked an increase of around six years for women and almost eight years for men. Despite these long-term developments, improvements to life expectancy have been slowing in recent years, and have declined since 2017/19. As of 2022, the country with the highest life expectancy in the World was Japan, which was 84.5 years, followed by South Korea, at 83.6 years.

This publication of the SHMI relates to discharges in the reporting period February 2021 - January 2022. The SHMI is the ratio between the actual number of patients who die following hospitalisation at the trust and the number that would be expected to die on the basis of average England figures, given the characteristics of the patients treated there. It covers patients admitted to hospitals in England who died either while in hospital or within 30 days of being discharged. Deaths related to COVID-19 are excluded from the SHMI. To help users of the data understand the SHMI, trusts have been categorised into bandings indicating whether a trust's SHMI is 'higher than expected', 'as expected' or 'lower than expected'. For any given number of expected deaths, a range of observed deaths is considered to be 'as expected'. If the observed number of deaths falls outside of this range, the trust in question is considered to have a higher or lower SHMI than expected. The SHMI is not a measure of quality of care. A higher than expected number of deaths should not immediately be interpreted as indicating poor performance and instead should be viewed as a 'smoke alarm' which requires further investigation. Similarly, an 'as expected' or 'lower than expected' SHMI should not immediately be interpreted as indicating satisfactory or good performance. Trusts may be located at multiple sites and may be responsible for 1 or more hospitals. A breakdown of the data by site of treatment is also provided, as well as a breakdown of the data by diagnosis group. Further background information and supporting documents, including information on how to interpret the SHMI, are available on the SHMI homepage (see Related Links). Information about the exclusion of COVID-19 from the SHMI can also be found on the same page. A link to the methodological changes statement which details the exclusion is also available in the Related Links section.

As of January 13, 2023, there have been 2,169,191 deaths across Europe due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) since the first recorded European death on February 15, 2020. The number of deaths first started to increase significantly during March, and again in November. The week beginning January 18, 2021, was the deadliest week so far with 40,467 deaths recorded. Russia currently has the highest amount of deaths in Europe at over 394 thousand.

The worldwide number of confirmed cases of coronavirus was over 668 million as of January 9, 2023. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

COVID-19 rate of death, or the known deaths divided by confirmed cases, was over ten percent in Yemen, the only country that has 1,000 or more cases. This according to a calculation that combines coronavirus stats on both deaths and registered cases for 221 different countries. Note that death rates are not the same as the chance of dying from an infection or the number of deaths based on an at-risk population. By April 26, 2022, the virus had infected over 510.2 million people worldwide, and led to a loss of 6.2 million. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. Note that Statista aims to also provide domestic source material for a more complete picture, and not to just look at one particular source. Examples are these statistics on the confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia or the COVID-19 cases in Italy, both of which are from domestic sources. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

A word on the flaws of numbers like this

People are right to ask whether these numbers are at all representative or not for several reasons. First, countries worldwide decide differently on who gets tested for the virus, meaning that comparing case numbers or death rates could to some extent be misleading. Germany, for example, started testing relatively early once the country’s first case was confirmed in Bavaria in January 2020, whereas Italy tests for the coronavirus postmortem. Second, not all people go to see (or can see, due to testing capacity) a doctor when they have mild symptoms. Countries like Norway and the Netherlands, for example, recommend people with non-severe symptoms to just stay at home. This means not all cases are known all the time, which could significantly alter the death rate as it is presented here. Third and finally, numbers like this change very frequently depending on how the pandemic spreads or the national healthcare capacity. It is therefore recommended to look at other (freely accessible) content that dives more into specifics, such as the coronavirus testing capacity in India or the number of hospital beds in the UK. Only with additional pieces of information can you get the full picture, something that this statistic in its current state simply cannot provide.

Due to changes in the collection and availability of data on COVID-19 this page will no longer be updated. The webpage will no longer be available as of 11 May 2023. On-going, reliable sources of data for COVID-19 are available via the COVID-19 dashboard, Office for National Statistics, and the UKHSA This page provides a weekly summary of data on deaths related to COVID-19 published by NHS England and the Office for National Statistics. More frequent reporting on COVID-19 deaths is now available here, alongside data on cases, hospitalisations, and vaccinations. This update contains data on deaths related to COVID-19 from: NHS England COVID-19 Daily Deaths - last updated on 28 June 2022 with data up to and including 27 June 2022. ONS weekly deaths by Local Authority - last updated on 16 August 2022 with data up to and including 05 August 2022. Summary notes about each these sources are provided at the end of this document. Note on interpreting deaths data: statistics from the available sources differ in definition, timing and completeness. It is important to understand these differences when interpreting the data or comparing between sources. Weekly Key Points An additional 24 deaths in London hospitals of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 and an additional 5 where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate were announced in the week ending 27 June 2022. This compares with 40 and 3 for the previous week. A total of 306 deaths in hospitals of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 and 27 where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate were announced for England as whole. This compares with 301 and 26 for the previous week. The total number of COVID-19 deaths reported in London hospitals of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 is now 19,102. The total number of deaths in London hospitals where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate is now 1,590. This compares to figures of 119,237 and 8,197 for English hospitals as a whole. Due to the delay between death occurrence and reporting, the estimated number of deaths to this point will be revised upwards over coming days These figures do not include deaths that occurred outside of hospitals. Data from ONS has indicated that the majority (79%) of COVID-19 deaths in London have taken place in hospitals. Recently announced deaths in Hospitals 21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June 25 June 26 June 27 June London No positive test 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 London Positive test 3 7 2 10 0 0 2 Rest of England No positive test 2 6 4 4 0 0 6 Rest of England Positive test 47 49 41 58 6 0 81 16 May 23 May 30 May 06 June 13 June 20 June 27 June London No positive test 14 3 4 0 4 3 5 London Positive test 45 34 55 20 62 40 24 Rest of England No positive test 41 58 33 23 47 23 22 Rest of England Positive test 456 375 266 218 254 261 282 Deaths by date of occurrence 21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June 25 June 26 June 27 June London 20,683 20,686 20,690 20,691 20,692 20,692 20,692 Rest of England 106,604 106,635 106,679 106,697 106,713 106,733 106,742 Interpreting the data The data published by NHS England are incomplete due to: delays in the occurrence and subsequent reporting of deaths deaths occurring outside of hospitals not being included The total deaths reported up to a given point are therefore less than the actual number that have occurred by the same point. Delays in reporting NHS provide the following guidance regarding the delay between occurrence and reporting of deaths: Confirmation of COVID-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure. This means that the totals reported at 5pm on each day may not include all deaths that occurred on that day or on recent prior days. The data published by NHS England for reporting periods from April 1st onward includes both date of occurrence and date of reporting and so it is possible to illustrate the distribution of these reporting delays. This data shows that approximately 10% of COVID-19 deaths occurring in London hospitals are included in the reporting period ending on the same day, and that approximately two-thirds of deaths were reported by two days after the date of occurrence. Deaths outside of hospitals The data published by NHS England does not include deaths that occur outside of hospitals, i.e. those in homes, hospices, and care homes. ONS have published data for deaths by place of occurrence. This shows that, up to 05 August, 79% of deaths in London recorded as involving COVID-19 occurred in hospitals (this compares with 44% for all causes of death). This would suggest that the NHS England data may underestimate overall deaths from COVID-19 by around 20%. Number of deaths Proportion of deaths Week ending Hospital Care home Home Other Hospital Care home Home Other 06 Mar 2020 1 1 0 0 50% 50% 0% 0% 13 Mar 2020 13 0 4 0 76% 0% 24% 0% 20 Mar 2020 148 9 11 0 88% 5% 7% 0% 27 Mar 2020 610 45 53 14 84% 6% 7% 2% 03 Apr 2020 1,215 132 143 27 80% 9% 9% 2% 10 Apr 2020 1,495 282 162 32 76% 14% 8% 2% 17 Apr 2020 1,076 295 101 29 72% 20% 7% 2% 24 Apr 2020 669 210 72 35 68% 21% 7% 4% 01 May 2020 348 125 43 15 66% 24% 8% 3% 08 May 2020 261 93 29 16 65% 23% 7% 4% 15 May 2020 152 51 22 5 66% 22% 10% 2% 22 May 2020 93 51 10 3 59% 32% 6% 2% 29 May 2020 62 25 7 6 62% 25% 7% 6% 05 Jun 2020 53 23 4 1 65% 28% 5% 1% 12 Jun 2020 27 11 9 3 54% 22% 18% 6% 19 Jun 2020 22 7 6 2 59% 19% 16% 5% 26 Jun 2020 14 14 5 1 41% 41% 15% 3% 03 Jul 2020 10 5 2 5 45% 23% 9% 23% 10 Jul 2020 15 3 0 1 79% 16% 0% 5% 17 Jul 2020 8 7 2 0 47% 41% 12% 0% 24 Jul 2020 15 1 0 2 83% 6% 0% 11% 31 Jul 2020 6 2 1 0 67% 22% 11% 0% 07 Aug 2020 6 2 0 1 67% 22% 0% 11% 14 Aug 2020 7 4 2 1 50% 29% 14% 7% 21 Aug 2020 4 0 0 0 100% 0% 0% 0% 28 Aug 2020 1 2 0 0 33% 67% 0% 0% 04 Sep 2020 3 0 1 0 75% 0% 25% 0% 11 Sep 2020 7 2 0 1 70% 20% 0% 10% 18 Sep 2020 9 2 1 0 75% 17% 8% 0% 25 Sep 2020 23 3 3 0 79% 10% 10% 0% 02 Oct 2020 27 3 2 0 84% 9% 6% 0% 09 Oct 2020 36 3 3 0 86% 7% 7% 0% 16 Oct 2020 41 0 2 0 95% 0% 5% 0% 23 Oct 2020 47 4 4 0 85% 7% 7% 0% 30 Oct 2020 91 3 5 1 91% 3% 5% 1% 06 Nov 2020 93 7 5 2 87% 7% 5% 2% 13 Nov 2020 109 11 10 2 83% 8% 8% 2% 20 Nov 2020 162 5 8 4 91% 3% 4% 2% 27 Nov 2020 175 8 14 5 87% 4% 7% 2% 04 Dec 2020 190 10 13 10 85% 4% 6% 4% 11 Dec 2020 199 9 13 6 88% 4% 6% 3% 18 Dec 2020 267 15 25 4 86% 5% 8% 1% 25 Dec 2020 403 30 43 7 83% 6% 9% 1% 01 Jan 2021 677 35 109 28 80% 4% 13% 3% 08 Jan 2021 959 73 167 36 78% 6% 14% 3% 15 Jan 2021 1,125 84 165 39 80% 6% 12% 3% 22 Jan 2021 1,163 96 142 43 81% 7% 10% 3% 29 Jan 2021 863 82 101 28 80% 8% 9% 3% 05 Feb 2021 605 70 59 38 78% 9% 8% 5% 12 Feb 2021 439 29 49 14 83% 5% 9% 3% 19 Feb 2021 338 29 33 12 82% 7% 8% 3% 26 Feb 2021 214 19 19 11 81% 7% 7% 4% 05 Mar 2021 141 11 19 5 80% 6% 11% 3% 12 Mar 2021 99 9 7 1 85% 8% 6% 1% 19 Mar 2021 65 10 1 1 84% 13% 1% 1% 26 Mar 2021 41 9 4 2 73% 16% 7% 4% 02 Apr 2021 35 5 4 0 80% 11% 9% 0% 09 Apr 2021 29 2 3 0 85% 6% 9% 0% 16 Apr 2021 24 6 2 0 75% 19% 6% 0% 23 Apr 2021 14 1 0 0 93% 7% 0% 0% 30 Apr 2021 13 1 1 0 87% 7% 7% 0% 07 May 2021 14 3 0 0 82% 18% 0% 0% 14 May 2021 6 2 0 0 75% 25% 0% 0% 21 May 2021 8 1 1 0 80% 10% 10% 0% 28 May 2021 11 1 2 1 73% 7% 13% 7% 04 Jun 2021 9 0 0 0 100% 0% 0% 0% 11 Jun 2021 11 3 0 0 79% 21% 0% 0% 18 Jun 2021 11 4 2 1 61% 22% 11% 6% 25 Jun 2021 10 0 0 1 91% 0% 0% 9% 02 Jul 2021 14 1 2 0 82% 6% 12% 0% 09 Jul 2021 12 1 4 1 67% 6% 22% 6% 16 Jul 2021 18 3 2 0 78% 13% 9% 0% 23 Jul 2021 48 0 7 1 86% 0% 12% 2% 30 Jul 2021 49 2 4 4 83% 3% 7% 7% 06 Aug 2021 66 1 9 1 86% 1% 12% 1% 13 Aug 2021 60 1 12 1 81% 1% 16% 1% 20 Aug 2021 84 1 5 1 92% 1% 5% 1% 27 Aug 2021 78 3 10 3 83% 3% 11% 3% 03 Sep 2021 85 3 7 1 89% 3% 7% 1% 10 Sep 2021 83 2 10 2 86% 2% 10% 2% 17 Sep 2021 65 2 9 1 84% 3% 12% 1% 24 Sep 2021 76 5 5 0 88% 6% 6% 0% 01 Oct 2021 88 2 15 1 83% 2% 14% 1% 08 Oct 2021 65 2 7 1 87% 3% 9% 1% 15 Oct 2021 62 1 9 4 82% 1% 12% 5% 22 Oct 2021 64 2 11 2 81% 3% 14% 3% 29 Oct 2021 66 3 11 1 81% 4% 14% 1% 05 Nov 2021 67 3 10 5 79% 4% 12% 6% 12 Nov 2021 84 2 12 1 85% 2% 12% 1% 19 Nov 2021 63 2 2 0 94% 3% 3% 0% 26 Nov 2021 68 2 8 0 87% 3% 10% 0% 03 Dec 2021 72 2 10 1 85% 2% 12% 1% 10 Dec 2021 81 3 12 4 81% 3% 12% 4% 17 Dec 2021 91 1 12 3 85% 1% 11% 3% 24 Dec 2021 101 8 15 3 80% 6% 12% 2% 31 Dec 2021 129 11 19 6 78% 7% 12% 4% 07 Jan 2022 178 18 19 4 81% 8% 9% 2% 14 Jan 2022 194 23 16 14 79% 9% 6% 6% 21 Jan 2022 165 25 11 4 80% 12% 5% 2% 28 Jan 2022 119 20 13 5 76% 13% 8% 3% 04 Feb 2022 97 13 8 2 81% 11% 7% 2% 11 Feb 2022 51 10 6 6 70% 14% 8% 8% 18 Feb 2022 62 6 9 3 78% 8% 11% 4% 25 Feb 2022 55 2 2 1 92% 3% 3% 2% 04 Mar 2022 47 2 2 2 89% 4% 4% 4% 11 Mar 2022 48 3 4 0 87% 5% 7% 0% 18 Mar 2022 60 7 8 4 76% 9% 10% 5% 25 Mar 2022 51 11 5 2 74% 16% 7% 3% 01 Apr 2022 60 8 5 2 80% 11% 7% 3% 08 Apr 2022 78 4 7 3 85% 4% 8% 3% 15 Apr 2022 74 6 6 3 83% 7% 7% 3% 22 Apr 2022 58 10 7 6 72% 12% 9% 7% 29 Apr 2022 39 8 3 4 72% 15% 6% 7% 06 May 2022 44 3 4 0 86% 6% 8% 0% 13 May 2022 29 2 4 2 78% 5% 11% 5% 20 May 2022 16 4 0 2 73% 18% 0% 9% 27 May 2022 34 3 3 1 83% 7% 7% 2% 03 Jun 2022 18 1 1 0 90% 5% 5% 0% 10 Jun 2022 18 1 3 0 82% 5% 14% 0% 17 Jun 2022 22 1 2 0 88% 4% 8% 0% 24 Jun 2022 33 2 3 1 85% 5% 8% 3% 01 Jul 2022 33 2 2 0 89% 5% 5% 0% 08 Jul 2022 51 4 4 4 81% 6% 6% 6% 15 Jul 2022 60 5 4 2 85% 7% 6% 3% 22 Jul 2022 71 9 10 3 76% 10% 11% 3% 29 Jul 2022 48 7 9 0 75% 11% 14% 0% 05 Aug 2022 35 1 3 4 81% 2% 7% 9% Total 18,924 2,390 2,152 634 79% 10% 9% 3% Comparison with all cause mortality Comparison of data sources Note on data sources NHS England provides numbers of patients who have died in hospitals in England and had tested positive for COVID-19, and from 25 April, the number of patients where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate and no positive COVID-19 test result was received. Figures are updated each day at 2pm with deaths reported up to 5pm the previous day. There is a delay between the occurrence of a death to it being captured in the

This indicator is designed to accompany the SHMI publication. The SHMI includes all deaths reported of patients who were admitted to non-specialist acute trusts in England and either died while in hospital or within 30 days of discharge. Deaths related to COVID-19 are excluded from the SHMI. A contextual indicator on the percentage of deaths reported in the SHMI which occurred in hospital and the percentage which occurred outside of hospital is produced to support the interpretation of the SHMI. Notes: 1. As of the July 2020 publication, COVID-19 activity has been excluded from the SHMI. The SHMI is not designed for this type of pandemic activity and the statistical modelling used to calculate the SHMI may not be as robust if such activity were included. Activity that is being coded as COVID-19, and therefore excluded, is monitored in the contextual indicator 'Percentage of provider spells with COVID-19 coding' which is part of this publication. 2. Please note that there has been a fall in the overall number of spells due to COVID-19 impacting on activity from March 2020 onwards and this appears to be an accurate reflection of hospital activity rather than a case of missing data. Further information is available in the contextual indicator ‘Provider spells compared to the pre-pandemic period’ which is part of this publication. 3. Day cases and regular day attenders are excluded from the SHMI. However, some day cases for University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RRV) have been incorrectly classified as ordinary admissions meaning that they have been included in the SHMI. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (trust code RWF) has submitted a number of records with a patient classification of ‘day case’ or ‘regular day attender’ and an intended management value of ‘patient to stay in hospital for at least one night’. This mismatch has resulted in the patient classification being updated to ‘ordinary admission’ by the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data cleaning rules. This may have resulted in the number of ordinary admissions being overstated. The trust has been contacted to clarify what the correct patient classification is for these records. Values for these trusts should therefore be interpreted with caution. 4. There is a shortfall in the number of records for Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RAL). Values for this trust are based on incomplete data and should therefore be interpreted with caution. 5. On 1st April 2022 Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (trust code RBZ) merged with Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RH8). The new trust is called Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RH8). This new organisation structure is reflected from this publication onwards. 6. Further information on data quality can be found in the SHMI background quality report, which can be downloaded from the 'Resources' section of the publication page.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has been a devastating and enduring mass-bereavement event, with uniquely difficult sets of circumstances experienced by people bereaved at this time. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of these experiences, including the prevalence of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) and other conditions in pandemic-bereaved populations.MethodsA longitudinal survey of people bereaved in the UK between 16 March 2020 and 2 January 2021, with data collected at baseline (n = 711), c. 8 (n = 383), 13 (n = 295), and 25 (n = 185) months post-bereavement. Using measures of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) (Traumatic Grief Inventory), grief vulnerability (Adult Attitude to Grief Scale), and social support (Inventory of Social Support), this analysis examines how participant characteristics, characteristics of the deceased and pandemic-related circumstances (e.g., restricted visiting, social isolation, social support) are associated with grief outcomes, with a focus on symptoms of PGD.ResultsAt baseline, 628 (88.6%) of participants were female, with a mean age of 49.5 (SD 12.9). 311 (43.8%) deaths were from confirmed/suspected COVID-19. Sample demographics were relatively stable across time points. 34.6% of participants met the cut-off for indicated PGD at c. 13 months bereaved and 28.6% at final follow-up. Social isolation and loneliness in early bereavement and lack of social support over time strongly contributed to higher levels of prolonged grief symptoms, while feeling well supported by healthcare professionals following the death was associated with reduced levels of prolonged grief symptoms. Characteristics of the deceased most strongly associated with lower levels of prolonged grief symptoms, were a more distant relationship (e.g., death of a grandparent), an expected death and death occurring in a care-home. Participant characteristics associated with higher levels of prolonged grief symptoms included low level of formal education and existence of medical conditions.ConclusionResults suggest higher than expected levels of PGD compared with pre-pandemic times, with important implications for bereavement policy, provision and practice now (e.g., strengthening of social and specialist support) and in preparedness for future pandemics and mass-bereavement events (e.g., guidance on infection control measures and rapid support responses).

These indicators are designed to accompany the SHMI publication. The SHMI methodology does not make any adjustment for deprivation. This is because adjusting for deprivation might create the impression that a higher death rate for those who are more deprived is acceptable. Patient records are assigned to 1 of 5 deprivation groups (called quintiles) using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). The deprivation quintile cannot be calculated for some records e.g. because the patient's postcode is unknown or they are not resident in England. Contextual indicators on the percentage of provider spells and deaths reported in the SHMI belonging to each deprivation quintile are produced to support the interpretation of the SHMI. Notes: 1. As of the July 2020 publication, COVID-19 activity has been excluded from the SHMI. The SHMI is not designed for this type of pandemic activity and the statistical modelling used to calculate the SHMI may not be as robust if such activity were included. Activity that is being coded as COVID-19, and therefore excluded, is monitored in the contextual indicator 'Percentage of provider spells with COVID-19 coding' which is part of this publication. 2. Please note that there has been a fall in the overall number of spells due to COVID-19 impacting on activity from March 2020 onwards and this appears to be an accurate reflection of hospital activity rather than a case of missing data. Further information is available in the contextual indicator ‘Provider spells compared to the pre-pandemic period’ which is part of this publication. 3. Day cases and regular day attenders are excluded from the SHMI. However, some day cases for University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RRV) have been incorrectly classified as ordinary admissions meaning that they have been included in the SHMI. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (trust code RWF) has submitted a number of records with a patient classification of ‘day case’ or ‘regular day attender’ and an intended management value of ‘patient to stay in hospital for at least one night’. This mismatch has resulted in the patient classification being updated to ‘ordinary admission’ by the HES data cleaning rules. This may have resulted in the number of ordinary admissions being overstated. The trust has been contacted to clarify what the correct patient classification is for these records. Values for these trusts should therefore be interpreted with caution. 4. There is a shortfall in the number of records for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RTF), Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RAL) and Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RM3). Values for these trusts are based on incomplete data and should therefore be interpreted with caution. 5. On 1st April 2022 Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (trust code RBZ) merged with Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RH8). The new trust is called Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RH8). However, as we received notification of this change after data processing for this publication began, separate indicator values have been produced for this publication. The next publication in this series will reflect the updated organisation structure. 6. Further information on data quality can be found in the SHMI background quality report, which can be downloaded from the 'Resources' section of the publication page.

Provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales, including deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19), by local authority, health board and place of death in the latest weeks for which data are available.

The SHMI methodology uses 142 statistical models, each corresponding to a different diagnosis group. Each of these models is constructed using a 3 year dataset and includes the following risk-adjustment variables: age, gender, method and month of admission, Charlson comorbidity index, year index and birthweight (for perinatal diagnosis groups only). Statistics relating to the model fit for each of the 142 statistical models (model fit statistics) and model coefficients (model predict statistics) are published for the purposes of transparency. Details of the statistics provided in each of the files are available in the 'SHMI statistical model data definitions' file. Notes: 1. Further information on data quality can be found in the SHMI background quality report, which can be downloaded from the 'Resources' section of the publication page.

Notes: