Skip to main content

This is a new service - your feedback will help us to improve it.

Changes to when we publish influenza and RSV data

We are changing how often we publish our influenza and RSV data. From 29 May, we will update metrics for both influenza and RSV every 2 weeks instead of weekly. We will resume weekly updates in October this year.

BackEntry title:

COVID-19 percentage change in deaths compared with previous 7 days

Last updated on Tuesday, 14 January 2025 at 10:50am

Summary

Topic
COVID-19
Category
headline
API name
COVID-19_headline_ONSdeaths_7DayPercentChange

Status

Active

Rationale

COVID-19 deaths depend on the scale and severity of recent COVID-19 cases.

Definition

This metric shows the percentage change between the total number of deaths in the 7 days leading up to the date shown of people whose death certificate mentioned COVID-19 as one of the causes compared to the previous 7 days. Deaths are reported by date of death registration.

Methodology

Deaths where COVID-19 is mentioned as one of the causes on the death certificate are reported by the Office for National Statistics.

The deceased may or may not have had a confirmed positive test for COVID-19. People who had COVID-19 but did not have it mentioned on their death certificate as a cause of death are excluded.

Deaths are allocated to the deceased's usual area of residence.

Bank holidays can affect the number of deaths registered in a given week.

The percentage change in new deaths in the last 7 days is calculated as the difference between:

  • the total of the daily deaths registered in the 7 days up to and including the most recent date with "complete" data
  • the total of the daily deaths registered in the previous 7 days

The difference is then divided by the total of the daily deaths registered in the previous 7 days.

Caveats

A change from 0 to a number greater than 0 will be displayed as 100% increase. A change from a number greater than 0 to 0 will be displayed as -100% i.e. a 100% decrease

Back to top