Excess mortality in Australia greater than 1500, ABS stats suggest

There were more than 1,500 more deaths in Australia between 1 January and 28 April 2020, compared to the baseline average for that period over the past five years.

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17 August

• More than 1500 excess deaths in first four months of 2020 in Australia.
• Two-thirds of medical students experiencing worse mental well-being during pandemic.
• WHO gets sick of doing a daily COVID-19 situation report, and moves to weekly.
• NSW premier apologies for Ruby Princess mistakes.
• Latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers around Australia.

• There were more than 1,500 more deaths in Australia between 1 January and 28 April 2020, compared to the baseline average for that period over the past five years, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
  During that period, there were just over 44,000 doctor-certified deaths, compared to the five-year average of around 42,500. From 17 March to 7 April alone, there were 624 excess deaths compared to historical averages. The peak coincides with the first peak of COVID-19 infections in Australia, and at that stage there were only around 90 official COVID-19 deaths recorded.
  In particular, deaths from pneumonia were particularly high during the last week of March, and were above historic maximums from mid-March to mid-April. There were also 115 more deaths from diabetes from the last week of March and throughout April compared to the historical average.
• More than two-thirds of medical students have experienced a deterioration in their mental well-being over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey published in Australasian Psychiatry.
  The online survey of 297 medical students at the University of Western Australia found just over one in 10 students scored very high for mental distress, while most fell into the ‘moderate’ category, and 68% overall said their mental well-being had worsened during the pandemic. Their biggest concern was the impact of the pandemic on their studies, followed by concern about the uncertainty of the situation.
• WHO is ditching its daily COVID-19 situation report, which it has been publishing since the very early days of the pandemic, and moving to a weekly Epidemiological Update.
• NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has apologised to the 62 people who were secondarily infected with COVID-19 from the Ruby Princess cruise ship, but said there was no suggestion that systemic failures were to blame for passengers being allowed to disembark without quarantine. She acknowledged that mistakes were made (apologised again) and said that those mistakes would not be made again.
• Here are the confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers around Australia to 9pm Sunday, with new infections from the previous 24 hours in brackets:
  National – 23,288, with 396 deaths and 680 hospitalised
  ACT – 113 (0)
  NSW – 3950 (5)
  NT – 33 (0)
  QLD – 1091 (0)
  SA – 461 (1)
  TAS – 230 (0)
  VIC – 16,764 (279)
  WA – 646 (0)