3 yıl önce

2020 saw the highest deaths in England and Wales for a century

Around 604,000 deaths were recorded in the two regions in the last 52 weeks, a senior UK statistician said.

Reuters

Medics transport a patient from an ambulance to the Royal London Hospital as the spread of the coronavirus continues in London, Britain, January 2, 2021.

England and Wales have recorded the most deaths in 2020 of any year in more than a century, with the Covid-19 pandemic leading to a rise in the number of excess deaths.

About 604,000 deaths were registered in the two regions in the last 52 weeks, about 73,000 or 14 percent above the five-year average, Nick Stripe from Britain's Office of National Statistics said on Twitter.

He said only one year since 1900 had seen annual deaths top 600,000, which was 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic struck.

THREAD – Mortality 2020

Today we published England & Wales mortality statistics for the w/e 25 Dec

Nearly a full year’s data for 2020

In the last 52 weeks there were:
c.604k deaths registered across E&W

This is:
c.73k deaths (14%) above the 5-yr avg = excess deaths

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— Nick Stripe (@NickStripe_ONS) January 6, 2021

Highest death toll since 1940

"Looking at excess deaths, we began the year with death levels below the 5-yr average," Stripe said.

"This was followed by a huge peak in the spring, driven by Covid, until lockdown 1 took effect."

He said the figures indicated that the number of excess deaths, adjusted for population, would be at the highest level since 1940.

"Even with measures taken to limit Covid spread, 2020 will still top 1951, the year of a major flu epidemic," he said. "Without all our efforts, 2020 could have been much worse."