Figures show that excess deaths in England and Wales are currently higher than in the main pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
Throughout October, there were an additional 1,564 deaths per week, compared to a weekly average of 315 in 2020 and 1,322 in 2021.
According to the most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, there were 1,714 excess deaths in England and Wales in the week ending October 21, with Covid accounting for only 469 (or 27 percent) of the totals.
It is 16.8 percent higher than expected. Deaths are also higher than the five-year pre-Covid October average from 2015 to 2019, according to data.
Health experts have warned that some of the unexplained deaths are the result of pandemic collateral damage, when operations and treatments were cancelled or delayed as the health service focused on Covid.
The government’s “stay at home, protect the NHS” message also made many people who needed medical attention unwilling to bother the health service, fearful of contracting coronavirus if they went to the hospital.
The NHS is also dealing with long-term staffing issues and current shortages due to the coronavirus, which has resulted in record wait times for ambulances, treatment, and surgery.
Dr Charles Levinson, of the private GP service DoctorCall, which has seen a rise in patients presenting with advanced conditions, said: “What is driving the excess death crisis? In my view, delays in diagnosis/treatment now and throughout the pandemic.
“The reasons for this are clearly debatable. I also believe that the government should be far more forthcoming about this issue and tell us what they are doing to address it.”
Despite a drop in coronavirus cases, excess deaths remain stubbornly high and show no signs of abating.
Data from the Institute of Faculty of Actuaries Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI), which takes the ageing population into account, also show significant increases in excess deaths.
According to the CMI, there were 13% more deaths this week than if death rates remained unchanged from 2019.
“That’s yet another significant excess,” a spokesman said. “The number of excess deaths calculated was significantly greater than the number of deaths mentioning Covid on the death certificate.” This continues the pattern of recent months.
“Cumulative mortality rates year to date are 3.3 per cent of a full year’s mortality worse than 2019.”
The new figures come after The Telegraph reported that there have been more excess deaths from causes other than Covid in the last six months than there have been in the previous year.
There have been 18,734 Covid-related deaths this year, but there have also been 24,440 deaths where the primary cause was another condition since May.
Non-Covid excess deaths have been three times higher than Covid deaths over the last six months.
Some of those people did die as a result of a coronavirus infection, but it was not the primary cause of death. Following a spike in coronavirus cases in the middle of September, the ONS has been publishing more covid death registrations in recent weeks. The government dashboard, on the other hand, now shows a decrease in deaths.
While ONS figures only go up to October 21, the dashboard figures are up to October 27 and show a 10% drop in Covid deaths in England over the previous week.
