Covid-19 related deaths for week ending 18 March 2022
As news breaks that Covid cases across the UK have risen to about a million in the past week, latest figures published today by NISRA show that 25 deaths involving Covid-19 occurred in Week 11 ending 18 March 2022.
In the 2 years since the first covid-19 related death took place, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths that occurred up to 18 March 2022 in Northern Ireland has now reached 4,403. Of these, 3,057 (69.4%) took place in hospital, 948 (21.5%) in care homes and 398 (9.0%) at residential addresses, hospices or other locations.
The comparative number of deaths reported daily by the Department of Health (DoH) to 18 March 2022 was 3,273.
The DoH count is based on patients having previously tested positive for the virus, whereas the NISRA figures are based on the information entered on death certificates completed by medical professionals.
They may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus and therefore include both confirmed and suspected cases, and where Covid-19 was either a contributor to or the main cause of death.
Further analysis, which includes deaths of care home residents by place of death, shows that there was a total of 1,242 deaths of care home residents involving Covid-19 (including deaths that took place in a hospice, hospital, care home or elsewhere) occurring between 18 March 2020 and 18 March 2022.
This accounts for 28.2% of all Covid-19 related deaths. However, no assumptions can be made in relation to where the deceased contracted the disease.
Separate analysis, based on the date of death registration, shows that the provisional number of total deaths from all causes registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending 18 March 2022 (week 11, 2022) was 301, thirty-seven less than in week 10 of 2022 and twenty-two more than the 5-year average (2017-2021) of 279.
Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate of 25 (8.3%) of the 301 deaths registered in week 11, seven fewer than the previous week (32).
The total number of Covid-19 related deaths registered since the start of the pandemic is 4,391 up to 18 March 2022.
Persons aged 75 and over accounted for 73.6% of the 4,391 Covid‑19 related deaths registered between 19 March 2020 and 18 March 2022.
Over the period of the pandemic, Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon and Mid-Ulster Local Government Districts have had higher proportions of Covid-19 related deaths (12.5% and 8.2% respectively) compared with their share of all deaths in Northern Ireland (10.4% and 6.7% respectively).
Conversely, Ards & North Down and Fermanagh & Omagh both have relatively low shares of registered Covid-19 related deaths (2.0 and 2.1 percentage points lower than their respective share of all deaths).
