Epidemiology of Confirmed COVID-19 Deaths in Adults, England, March–December 2020

Abstract

R eliable ascertainment and description of mortal- ity rates is vital in monitoring the public health response to coronavirus disease . Disparities between population subgroups provide critical insights into which groups are most affected, directly informing the public response. In England, COVID-19 was fi rst detected on January 30, 2020; the fi rst COVID-19 death occurred on March 2, 2020. We describe trends in COVID-19 mortality rates by age group, sex, ethnicity, residential region and socioeconomic deprivation, time from positive specimen date to death, and place of death during the fi rst 9 months after the fi rst known COVID-19 death in England.