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England had the highest levels of excess deaths in Europe between the end of February and mid-June, according to an official analysis.
The Office for National Statistics says that England recorded the second highest death rates in Europe, after Spain.
But England had the longest period where deaths were above average, so overall it had the highest levels.
Areas in Spain and Italy, such as Milan and Madrid, were more affected than cities in the United Kingdom.
But ONS analysis shows that the epidemic in the UK was more widespread than in other countries, and Scotland had the third highest death rate in Europe.
By May 23, the death rate in England was 7.5% higher than in recent years.
The increase in Spain, 6.7%, was the second highest in the countries studied, followed by Scotland’s increase of 5.1%.
Wales and Northern Ireland are also on the list of the most affected countries.
During a visit to North Yorkshire, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked if he was embarrassed that England had the highest excess death rate in Europe.
He said, “We mourn every loss of life we have had during the coronavirus epidemic.”
The prime minister said the country owes it to the families of those who died “to continue our work to reduce the virus,” adding that it had “massive success” in reducing the number of deaths.
The virus was “under some control measure” while “we are seeing a resurgence of the virus in some other European countries,” as well as in the United States, Johnson said.
The new analysis builds on previous studies of excess deaths by taking into account the ages of the population in each country.
In the worst case, the mortality rate in Spain was almost 2.5 times higher than its usual level.
That was worse than in England, where the maximum number of deaths was approximately 2.1 times its usual level.
But deaths in Spain returned to normal levels faster, so throughout the year so far, England has seen more deaths compared to previous years.
An Animated Guide: What is Excess Deaths?
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Let’s use the UK as an example. If 2020 had been an average year, the dotted line in the table below shows how many people we would have expected to die each week. This is known as expected deaths and it is calculated based on the number of deaths in previous years.
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Any death greater than expected is known as excess deaths. During the coronavirus pandemic, many countries have recorded significantly more deaths than expected this year.
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Many of these excess deaths can be explained by the number of people officially confirmed to have had COVID-19. But in many places, that doesn’t explain all excess deaths.
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These other excess deaths It may have been, directly or indirectly, caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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The total number of excess deaths shows a more complete picture of the human scale of the coronavirus outbreak.
The analysis also looked at cities and regions within countries.
Madrid, Barcelona and Milan registered higher mortality peaks than the cities of the United Kingdom.
But the ONS said the epidemic was more widespread in the UK than in other countries.
Seven of the 15 cities that saw the largest increase in death rates were in the UK.
ONS’s Edward Morgan said the wide spread of the virus combined with the relatively slow and declining “tail” of the pandemic in the UK were the key reasons why England saw “overall relative excess mortality more high of all European countries in comparison “.
