COVID restrictions

23 February 2022

Dear

ATISN 16038 – COVID Deaths 

Thank you for your request to the Welsh Government for information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) received on 31 January 2022.  You requested the following: 

All evidence with regard to the “Medical Facts” and purported “Scientific Evidence” with the Welsh Government’s decision to incite the Covid Rules with respect to the following (from April 1st 2020 to 31st January 2022):

1.    Total number of deaths from 1st April 2020 to 31st January 2022 (all causes irrespective of Covid)

2.    Actual total number of deaths ‘solely’ down to Covid.

3.    Actual number of recoveries from those contracting Covid (as no public information or data and statistics were given on this)

4.    Total number of cases of Covid – inclusive of the number of those vaccinated (1 jab, 2 jabs and 3 jabs) and those unvaccinated.

5.    Medical evidence on the reason behind the Vaccine Passport.

Our Response

1.    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collect and produce mortality statistics for England and Wales based on information from the death registration process. The ONS publish provisional numbers of registered deaths from any cause on a weekly and monthly basis. This information is publicly available on their website:

Weekly: Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).
Monthly: Deaths due to COVID-19 by English region and Welsh health board - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) [Data is currently only available up To December 2021].

2.    As part of their monthly mortality statistics ONS publish information on the number of pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19 (i.e. where COVID-19 was identified as the underlying (main) cause on the death certificate). 

Although data on deaths due to COVID-19 with no co-morbidities is available in this release, it should not be interpreted as a measure of COVID-19 deaths. Medical practitioners certify the causes of a death to the best of their knowledge of the patient. They can list all causes in the chain of events that led to the death and any pre-existing conditions that may have contributed to the death. The ONS have published a  blog outlining that interpreting deaths due to COVID-19 with no pre-existing conditions is misleading. More contextual information on the number of pre-conditions for other conditions, is available in section 9 and 10 of the following release. For further information on this data, please contact the ONS at health.data@ons.gov.uk

3.    The number of recoveries from those contracting COVID-19 is not possible to provide since we do not know the total number of people who have contracted COVID-19. As detailed in the next answer, we have the total number of cases, but these figures come from positive PCR tests. Not all those who contract COVID-19 will seek a PCR test, especially when they have not been exhibiting symptoms.

4.    Public Health Wales provide the total number of COVID-19 cases on their rapid surveillance dashboard. . Data correct as at 17 February 2022 gives the total number of COVID-19 cases to be 805,836. These cases have been identified through PCR testing.

Public Health Wales publish a “Vaccine status in cases and hospital inpatients” report that they attach to the vaccine tab of their rapid surveillance dashboard. The latest report runs to 30 November 2021 and provides COVID-19 confirmed episodes by vaccination status.

5.    The information you have requested is already in the public domain and is therefore exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the Act. We are not required to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you have requested has been published and is available at this website: https://gov.wales/atisn15646.

Next Steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response. Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at: 

Information Rights Unit, 
Welsh Government,
Cathays Park, 
Cardiff, 
CF10 3NQ 
or Email: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above. 
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office, 
Wycliffe House, 
Water Lane, 
Wilmslow, 
Cheshire, 
SK9 5AF

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

Yours sincerely