The Government’s new system for reporting data on COVID-19 deaths across all settings comes into place today (29th April 2020).

Currently, only data on deaths in England occurring in hospital settings of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been included in daily updates.

PHE have updated their data reporting and collection in England and from tomorrow the daily UK count will show the total number of deaths for anyone with a positive test across all settings, including those out of hospital. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales already report out of hospital deaths.

The figures, dating back from early March 2020 up to today, will be set out tomorrow afternoon at the daily press conference and published each day as part of the daily data reporting going forward.

The new figure will cover the whole of the UK, showing the number of deaths across all settings, whether they are in hospital, in a care home or in the community. This will include anyone who has died who has tested positive for COVID-19.

With more data available covering a wider scope, the new figure is expected to be higher than previous counts. The new system links positive test results in labs with the central NHS Digital patient record of all deaths for the first time and includes deaths outside hospital.

The ONS and CQC’s weekly series includes data with a time lag of up to 11 days and includes suspected cases of coronavirus as denoted on death certificates. Tomorrow’s data will be accurate as of today and will only include those cases confirmed through testing.