Covid was main contributor to last wave of excess mortality

Covid-19 was the main underlying cause behind the increase in the number of deaths last October and November. However, according to the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS), there are also other causes that contributed to the most recent "excess death wave," during which more people than average died.

The CBS does not yet know what the other causes are. "Coronavirus still made up a large proportion, but it seems that there is more to it than the pandemic," said a spokesperson. "But we can’t yet tell if one of the other causes of death clearly contributed to the excess mortality."

However, the CBS has a number of hypotheses about what the other causes for the higher than expected mortality in October and November may have been. "Risk groups may have died from other viruses or the cause could be because of delayed medical care due to Covid-19," the spokesperson said. "With the data we have so far, we aren’t yet sure."

In the coming weeks, the CBS will conduct further research with additional data that is currently being finalized. Normally, the CBS only learns more about the causes of death and the reasons for over- or under-mortality after four months. Less data was used in this study in order to make an estimate.