UK experts call excess deaths ‘worrying’
Mike Campbell
A UK epidemiologist says the spike in excess deaths in England and Wales is “worrying,” though she doesn’t know what’s causing it.
“The continuing trend of higher numbers of deaths in England and Wales than expected (compared with previous years), apparent since the spring, is worrying,” said Veena Raleigh, as reported by the Telegraph.
Excess deaths occur when the number of fatalities seems higher than usual compared to historical averages.
Excess deaths due to COVID-19 have dropped since 2020, but non-COVID excess deaths are surging.
“There were more deaths than expected from non-Covid causes. This contrasts with most of the pandemic period, when non-Covid deaths were lower than expected,” said Cobus Daneel, who chairs the Institute of Actuaries Continuous Mortality Investigation in the UK.