Weekly Deaths Bulletin – week ending 29th January 2021

The bulletin containing data on deaths registered for the week ending 29th January 2021 was released at 9.30am today.

Key Points

Date of Registration

• The provisional number of total deaths registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending 29^th January 2021 (week 4) was 437, 37 less than in week 3 of 2021 (474) and 78 more than the 5 year average (359).
• 137 deaths mentioning Covid-19 on the death certificate were registered in week 4 of 2021, accounting for 31.4% of all deaths in that week and bringing the total number of Covid-19 related deaths registered from the start of the pandemic to 2,448 by 29^th January 2021.
• From the start of the pandemic (from the first Covid-19 related death being registered on 19^th March 2020) to 29^th January 2021, males and females accounted for similar proportions of all deaths registered (males: 49.8%, females: 50.2%) and Covid-19 related deaths registered (males: 50.2%; female 49.8%).
• From 19^th March 2020 (the start of the pandemic) to 29^th January 2021, the 75 years and over age-group accounted for almost two-thirds (65.8%) of all deaths and over three-quarters (77.4%) of Covid-19 related deaths.
• Antrim & Newtownabbey had the highest proportion of Covid-19 related deaths as a proportion of the total deaths registered there over the period 19^th March – 29^th January 2021 (18.6%).

Date of Death

• There were 2,495 deaths mentioning Covid-19 on the death certificate have occurred in total from 18^th March 2020 to 29^th January 2021 (including those registered up to and including 3^rd February). The comparative number of deaths reported by the Department of Health (DoH) to 29^th January2 was 1,837 (see page 9 of the bulletin for definitions).
• 124 Covid-19 related deaths occurred in week ending 29^th January. This is the second consecutive fall in the occurrence based series since the recent peak of 175 Covid-19 related deaths in the week ending 15^th January.
• Of these 2,495 deaths involving Covid-19 1,591 (63.8%) occurred in hospital3, 712 (28.5%) occurred in care homes, 13 (0.5 %) occurred in hospices and 179 (7.2%) occurred at residential addresses or another location.
• The 725 deaths in care homes and hospices involved 170 separate establishments.

A dashboard containing some of the key weekly death statistics is also available.

The bulletin and other related documents are available from the weekly deaths registrations in Northern Ireland webpage  

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