Spanish Statistics Institute counts 18,557 covid deaths more than Catalan Health system until May

Mortality rises 44.8% since March and covid is the first cause

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Un enfermo es trasladado al Hospital de Bellvitge

BarcelonaIn the first five months of 2020, 18,557 more people died than were reported by the Ministry of Health due to covid-19, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The data published today puts the number of deaths between January and May due to the virus or suspected of having contracted the disease at 45,684, a figure that exceeds that recorded by the Spanish government. The advance report of deaths according to the cause of death indicates that it was the most frequent cause of death during this period, followed by ischemic heart and cerebrovascular diseases. A total 32,652 deaths were caused by coronavirus and another 13,032 deaths were suspected of having been infected.

The Community of Madrid was the region where most covid or suspected covid death happened (14,718), followed by Catalonia (10,754) and Castilla-La Mancha (4,897), where the highest death rate in relation to the number of inhabitants was recorded.

The trend in deaths increased from March onwards, when the first cases began to be detected in Catalonia. In January and February there was a decrease of 4.3% in mortality throughout Spain compared to last year, while between March and May it rose by 44.8% - of this percentage, 69.3% of deaths occurred because of covid and 27.7% were suspicious cases. But the worst month in terms of figures was April, when the pandemic was the cause of 30.1% of deaths. A total of 231,014 people died between the outbreak and May, 23.2% more than last year during the same period.

There were 2,724 more deaths among men than women, and the elderly were the main victims: 87.1% were over 70 years old. in addition, the majority of deaths occurred in hospital centres (76.4% of the total), and more than half of suspected deaths took place in care homes (55.6% of the total).

By group of diseases, those of the circulatory system remained the leading cause of death, with 23% of the total, and infectious diseases - which included deaths due to coronavirus - were in second place, with 20.9% of the total, followed by tumours, representing 20.4%, and respiratory diseases, with 10%. During this month, deaths due to infectious diseases increased 1,687.7%. Of these, 67.5% were due to covid-19 and 26.9% were suspect covid-19 cases.

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