CLAIM: There have been just 113 COVID-19 deaths in all in Northern Ireland.
Daily. Northern Ireland’s Department of Health (DoH) publishes a daily figure for deaths reported in the 24 hours up to 10am the previous day. Deaths are attributed as “COVID-19 deaths” in the DoH’s figures if the person had a positive test for COVID-19 within the previous 28 days. This measure is now broadly consistent across the UK and allows regional comparisons to be made. The Deaths Summary pane of the DoH dashboard shows that exactly 2,000 COVID-19 deaths had been reported by 10am on 15 February 2021. Weekly. NISRA publishes weekly figures, based on COVID-19 being mentioned on death certificates (with or without a positive test). Unlike the DoH figures, NISRA’s weekly statistics include deaths of people who did not have a positive test at the time of death. NISRA’s figures will include people whose certifying doctor notes COVID-19 symptoms, but died of a different primary cause once further analysis is conducted. From the start of the pandemic until 5 February 2021, NISRA’s weekly figures show that there were 2,574 deaths registered mentioning COVID-19 on the death certificate. Quarterly. The Registrar General Quarterly Report is published by NISRA, in line with other UK statistical agencies, and categorises deaths by cause. The primary cause of death is precisely coded against the ICD-10 international model. These are the most accurate, but the slowest to produce, of these three sets of figures for COVID-19 deaths. During the first nine months of 2020, NISRA’s quarterly figures explain that there were 808 deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause (information accurate on 18 November 2020).