Yes, Coroners have a duty to ensure all required inquests are staged and completed. The UK’s Chief Coroner has however said it is ‘inevitable that adjournments will cause the number of cases over 12 months old to increase.’ It is expected that there could be a focus on completing Rule 23 inquests – where witnesses do not need to be called as everyone agrees on the facts and the written reports answer all the Coroner's and relatives' questions. These could be the majority be held over the coming weeks and months, particularly as they can be done remotely. However, more detailed inquest hearings, where attendance and questioning of numerous key witnesses are required, as well as the attendance of juries, are set to be significantly delayed.

Covid-19 has been classed as a naturally occurring disease and therefore in most cases it will be recorded as the sole natural cause of death. This will be recorded by doctors on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD).

No. This is because it is classed as a notifiable disease under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations. Covid-19 can therefore be recorded as a natural cause of death and therefore, in most cases, the death will not need referring to a coroner.

Guidance issued by the Chief Coroner does state that there may be additional factors which mean a death may be reported to the coroner, such as where the cause is not clear, or where there are other relevant factors. Inquests will be required where the death occurred in ‘state detention’, such as a prison or psychiatric hospital. The Chief Coroner has stated that it is ‘important that sufficiency of inquiry should be maintained as much as possible in prison deaths’ and that ‘it is obviously important that deaths in custody or otherwise in state detention are scrutinised carefully.’ He says ‘there may be deaths which occur which are not by natural cause and these should be given as much attention and resource as is available by investigators in the circumstances.’ Coroners are being advised to open an investigation into such deaths, but possibly delay opening the inquest itself until a later date. This will provide time to assemble all relevant evidence, release the body for burial or cremation and then list the inquest at a future date, most likely after the pandemic emergency has passed.

Temporarily yes, but long term, no. Jury inquests which had been due to start between 31 March and Friday 28 August 2020, of any significant length, will not take place before September. Long or complex inquests not involving a jury are also likely to be adjourned. There will undoubtedly be a significant reduction in hearings until the pandemic passes, but the Chief Coroner has stressed that all Coroners remain under their usual statutory duties and must conduct proper investigations, which may require adjournments. Coroners have discretion and judgments to exercise in various respects and ‘can be expected to exercise them in a pragmatic way which takes account of the effects of the pandemic’.

In some cases deaths may need to be reported to the coroner when ‘pandemic pressures’ mean there may be insufficient capacity within the health service to diagnose Coivd-19 as an illness in life, or for a doctor to sign a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. It may be the case that post-mortem examinations are not be possible either, due to infection risk of capacity problems. In these circumstances an inquest may be held to gather all evidence, including accurate information from the scene in a community death.