Northern Ireland

One-in-10 deaths over past 18 months attributed to Covid-19

The provisional number of deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate since the beginning of 2020 was 2,982
The provisional number of deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate since the beginning of 2020 was 2,982 The provisional number of deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate since the beginning of 2020 was 2,982

COVID-19 has been the underlying cause in almost 10 per cent of deaths since the start of last year, new statistics show.

The Registrar General Quarterly Report for April to the end of June (Q2) shows there was a provisional total of 3,772 deaths registered in the three month period.

The rate of deaths per 1,000 population decreased from 10.3 in the first three months of the year to 8.0 in Q2.

Covid-19 was the underlying cause of 43 (1.1 per cent) of the registered deaths, down from 921 the previous quarter.

The provisional number of deaths in Q2 where the underlying cause was cancer was 1,134 (30.1 per cent), while 345 (9.1 per cent) were due to non-Covid respiratory conditions.

On average, over the previous five years 27.6 per cent of annual deaths were due to cancer and11.8 per cent from respiratory conditions.

There were 76 suicide deaths, including events of undetermined intent, registered.

However, the statisticians say the data should not be interpreted as the number of suicides occurring during Q2, as there is often a time lag for such deaths to be investigated by the coroner and then subsequently registered.

Elsewhere, the figures show there were 5,355 births in Q2, 1,687 marriages and 10 civil partnerships.

Of all the registered marriages in Q2, 98 (5.8 per cent) were same sex marriages, including both civil and religious marriages.

More than half of all same-sex marriages were female unions, while almost two-thirds (63.3 per cent) were conversions from a previous civil partnership.