INSTAT has published its data on the cause of deaths during 2020.
As previously reported, there was an increase in deaths of 25.8% during 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when compared to previous years. In 2020 there were 27,605 deaths compared to 22,000 the year before.
The government reported only 1,315 deaths from COVID-19 over 2020, leaving around 6,000 “excess deaths.”
The data provided by INSTAT shows that the crude mortality rate for 2020 was 972.7 deaths per 100,000. In 2019, it was 768.6. The main cause of death was reported as “natural causes,” which accounted for 97.3% of deaths overall. Other causes were accidents, homicide, and suicide.
Over half of those deaths classified as natural deaths were attributed to circulatory system diseases, with a mortality rate of 508.0 deaths per 100,000. This represents a 23.3% increase from the previous year.
But in terms of “respiratory diseases,” the number of deaths was 4.5 times higher than in the previous year. This, INSTAT said, is due to COVID-19. But this accounted for just 2,454 deaths, less than the 6,000 “excess deaths” observed.
190 women lost their lives while pregnant, during birth, or in the postnatal period. 281 infants lost their lives during the year, mainly due to complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period.
When providing the breakdown of causes of death by age group, INSTAT reported that respiratory diseases were most prevalent in the 45-79 age group.
INSTAT does not include COVID-19 as a cause of death in their report, therefore it is difficult to understand which are related to the virus, and which are caused by other factors. There is no transparency around which deaths were caused by COVID-19, and what could have attributed to the excess deaths. Based on INSTAT data, some 3,546 “excess deaths” remain.
