Covid pandemic blamed as fifty thousand excess deaths reported in UK

FIFTY THOUSAND excess deaths were reported in the UK in 2022, as health chiefs blame the increase on the Covid pandemic.

Following reports that there were fifty thousand excess deaths in the UK in 2022, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom, Steve Barclay, told Sky News on Wednesday, January 11, that the country is seeing the results of the Covid pandemic.

The large number of excess deaths in the UK in 2022 surpassed all other years on record, only being beaten by 1951, according to data compiled by The Times.

The news outlet noted that there were over excess 1,600 deaths in the week leading up to Christmas.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of registered deaths was 20 per cent above average in the week ending December 30 and 21 per cent above average in the week to December 23.

Speaking about the worrying increase in excess deaths in the UK, Mr Barclay told Sky News that the British public is now seeing the “consequence of the pandemic”.

“All countries across Europe are facing a similar issue,” he said.

“One [reason] is the consequence of the pandemic.”

Although a small number of deaths in 2022 were attributed to Covid compared to the previous two years – in which the virus was reported as the main cause of excess deaths in the country – the UK Health and Social Care Secretary stated it was NHS delays due to the pandemic that caused the rise in excess deaths, not necessarily Covid itself.

“Clearly, during the pandemic there will be some patients who delayed treatment — we’re clearly seeing some of that playing through in cardiovascular conditions, there will be some of those deaths directly linked to Covid itself,” he said.

“Some of it will be indirectly where, for example, if someone is waiting for treatment, we’ve got a challenge in terms of people waiting for operations, which we’re working actively to clear.”

He added: “It is extremely complicated as to what the driver of those excess deaths are, that’s something we’re looking closely, I’m talking to the chief medical officer.”

The data showed in 2022 there were around 1,000 excess deaths each week in the UK.

Back in October 2022, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and ONS released estimates of excess deaths during the summer of 2022 in the UK in which record temperatures were blamed for the rise in figures.