ENGLAND’s excess death rate is one of the worst in Europe amid the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows.
Figures from EuroMOMO which monitors official data including from all parts of the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Switzerland, reveal that England has had the highest level of excess deaths for the past four weeks.
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And the number is not dropping like it is in other countries including Italy and Spain.
It comes after Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of NHS England, said that excess deaths is the “key measure” in assessing the impact of Covid-19 but argued it will be “some time” before that comparison can be done between countries.
The researchers, who are supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), provide a “z-score” which takes into account factors such as population size and mortality patterns.
The higher the z-score, the higher the number of excess deaths and the countries with the biggest peaks are Belgium, Spain, Italy and England.
However, England is the only country which recorded a z-score over 40 and it has now been at this level for three weeks.
'Extremely high excess'
EuroMOMO classes a score higher than z15 as “extremely high excess”.
England peaked at 44.1 at week 15 and the latest figures from week 17 show a z41.59.
Meanwhile, Italy, which has had the highest number of Covid deaths in Europe, peaked at a score of 22.74 in week 14 and has since dropped back to 5.12 while Spain hit a peak of 34.74 at the same time and has now dropped to 3.06.
And Scotland peaked at a score of 17.25, Wales peaked at 19.25 and Northern Ireland reached a peak of 8.45.
Lasse Skafte Vestergaard, the Senior Medical Officer at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention at the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark and Coordinator of EuroMOMO, told The Telegraph: “When you look at the excess mortality data across Europe it is not going up any more, it appears it is plateauing and maybe in some places it is going down.
“I would not say yet that we are for sure past the peak, but it does seem to be plateauing and it may be that that has also happened in England but the excess deaths rates are still higher."
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It is not known why England has the highest excess death rates, however, the Government has been slammed by scientists for not acting quickly enough to stop the spread of coronavirus.
In particular, early on in the UK's outbreak, the Government suggested one way of beating the deadly bug was by allowing 60 per cent of Brits to get infected to build 'herd immunity'.
Mr Vestergaard, said that differences in death rates "may be down to how quickly different countries started to put in place interventions and controls.”
He added: "The first few days and weeks in a pandemic are critical because that is when the spread starts to develop exponentially, thus a matter of a few days or weeks can make a difference."
Denmark and Norway’s death rates have been consistent with what is expected in a normal year, the data shows.
Grim jump
The UK's coronavirus death toll hit 28,446 yesterday as 315 more people died in the UK in the last 24 hours.
The grim jump in deaths means the country remains one of the worst hit by the deadly bug in the world, with 186,599 cases of the virus.
Britain is edging closer to becoming the worst affected in Europe, with the coronavirus-hit Italy's death toll currently sitting at 28,884.
They recorded just 174 new deaths today, figures from the Civil Protection Agency said, posting the smallest daily toll of fatalities since March 10.
UK figures published today by NHS England show April 8 continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 867.
Experts think Britain's peak happened in mid-April, and they expect the numbers to continue to fall overall.
The lower the number of new cases and deaths is, the more effective a new track and trace approach will be when it's rolled out in the middle of the next month.
It is being tested through a pilot study on the Isle of Wight this week, The Sun revealed last week.
The Government will in the coming weeks ask everyone to download a new app, which will let users know if they have been in contact with anyone who has tested positive.
Ministers are recruiting 18,000 tracers to track cases, as they get ready to lift lockdown measures in the coming weeks.
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