evidence: This claim is not accurate. While there has been a change in the timing of reporting of official statistics regarding the impact of COVID-19, there is no suggestion that family consent has any role in the registration of deaths or their statistical reporting. In Northern Ireland, the Public Health Agency has stated that all deaths are a matter of public record. [...] "It turns out that these figures may not actually be the deaths that have taken place over the last 24 hours because the Department of Health, the NHS, needs to have the consent of the families of people who have died to release their figures. So some of the deaths may have taken place a few days ago, so it is not exactly a like-for-like figure every day." [...] Regarding the need for family consent, there is no direct reference to COVID-19 changing the process in which a death is registered. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), mortality statistics are based on information recorded when deaths are certified and registered. Most deaths are certified by a medical practitioner, using the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD).