There were at least 11,200 excess deaths in Australia over the first half of 2022.
Covid-19 directly accounted for half of all excess deaths in the first six months of this year, as calls mount for further investigation into whether the pandemic is implicated in the other excess deaths.
There were 13% more deaths in Australia between January and June than predicted, according to data from the Actuaries Institute.
In real terms, this adds up to about 11,200 deaths.
Half of the deaths were from covid, and a further 1300 were in people who had the disease when they died.
January was the deadliest month so far, with more than 2500 excess deaths in total. More than 1500 of these were covid deaths.
Excess deaths decreased in February and March, but started to rise again in April, May and June.
June, the most recent month for which excess deaths data was available, had just under 2500 additional deaths.
As governments begin to relax pandemic precautions around the world, non-covid excess deaths have been of particular public interest.
Like many, I often get labelled a fearmonger. As we approach our 4th wave for 2022, shortly after our most lethal wave of the pandemic – on track for 25,000 XS deaths for the year & with a likely #LongCovid toll of 500,000+ – what we’re seeing is actually worse than I thought.
— Prof Brendan Crabb AC (@CrabbBrendan) October 5, 2022
Non-covid excess deaths have risen across the world, with some suggesting that the driving factor could include long covid and other post-covid sequelae, delays in emergency care, delays in routine care and delayed deaths from other causes.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health went so far as to say that all the non-covid excess deaths it recorded between 2020 and 2022 were in people who had a covid infection in the 90 days leading up to their death, and that covid had likely exacerbated an underlying illness in that cohort.
Karen Cutter, spokesman for the Actuaries Institute of Australia, called for further investigation into how Australia’s non-covid excess deaths were impacted by the pandemic.
“Multiple factors are likely to be in play, and different factors may be more or less pronounced at various times,” she said.
“It isn’t possible to identify from the data whether any or all of these issues are causing the non-covid excess deaths.
“We would like to see further investigation into the possible causes to try to answer this question.”
Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of excess deaths where covid was not present, accounting for 900 more deaths than expected, followed by cerebrovascular disease, diabetes and dementia.
