Covid blamed for increase in Australian deaths in 2022
Australia recorded nearly 20,000 more deaths than expected last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, new research has revealed.
Australia recorded nearly 20,000 more deaths than expected last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, new research has revealed.
An analysis of excess mortality data by the Actuaries Institute found the total excess mortality – or the increase in the number of deaths compared to predictions – was up 11 per cent (17,900 deaths) from January to November 2022.
For the full year, the researchers predicted there were nearly 20,000 more deaths than would have been predicted if the pandemic not occurred.
“These figures are a stark reminder of the tremendous impact Covid-19 has had across Australia,” Actuaries Institute chief executive Elayne Grace said. “Although people have largely moved on with their lives beyond the lockdowns and border closures, the fact is that Covid-19 remains a key contributor to the majority of excess mortality.”
Just over half of the excess deaths were due to Covid-19, peaking in the last week of July, trending downwards until the end of October and then rising throughout November and December.
Covid-19 was a contributing factor to a further 2900 deaths, but not mentioned on the death certificates of the remaining 6600 people.
While most of the excess deaths were in Australians aged over 65, the virus was the cause of a major percentage of deaths for all age groups.
Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party has been running advertisements questioning the increased death rates in Australia and suggesting – without explicitly stating – a link to side effects from Covid vaccines that have been “catastrophic and life-changing”.
But a spokeswoman for the Institute’s Covid-19 Mortality Working Group, Karen Cutter, said the study did not cite vaccine side effects as a reason for the increased mortality rates.
“Covid-19 accounts for about half of this excess,” the spokeswoman said.
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