Covid deaths now over 40 and likely to rise

Friday 13 January 2023

The way deaths 'due to', or 'involving' covid are measured has changed meaning the combined number for both in Guernsey is now slightly lower than it previously was, but is expected to increase again.

Changes this week, to keep Guernsey's data into line with national guidelines, means 41 people are now recorded as having died 'due to covid' while a further 21 additional deaths involving covid have been confirmed.

The States of Guernsey publish the most recent covid data weekly on Tuesdays, but this week changes were also made on Wednesday.

Pictured: The covid data page on the gov.gg website was updated twice this week, on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 January.

Updating the page, the States data team confirmed "we have recently changed the way we report covid-19 deaths".

The new definitions mean that deaths 'due to' covid are those people who died with a "confirmed underlying cause of covid-19 following completion of clinical coding by the Office for National Statistics".

Additional deaths involving covid are "deaths not yet coded where covid-19 is mentioned as a cause anywhere on the death certificate.

"In most but not all instances these will be deaths among active covid-19 cases and in most but not all cases these deaths will be found to have an underlying cause of covid-19 when clinical coding has taken place." 

That means that the number of deaths 'due to' covid will rise as further clinical coding takes place among those who have already died.

Prior to this change the States website recorded 23 deaths due to covid and 46 as involving covid. The overall number of covid related deaths has fallen but the number directly attributed to covid has risen.