Portugal recorded more than 500 more than expected deaths in the last week
Between Monday and Sunday of last week, 523 more people died than would be expected for this time of year, all provisional data revealed by the all-cause mortality surveillance system by the Directorate-General for Health (GS). According to the newspaper “Público”, it is not possible to understand, through data from the Death Information System (S), how many deaths in excess are restricted to high temperatures. extremes recorded in recent days.
Last week, the DGS said that, between the days 7 and 13 of this month, there were 238 more deaths in excess. However, the scenario worsened in the following days. On Thursday, the 14th, 440 people in one day. According to “quick accounts of mortality recorded between July 1st and 16th”, made by meteorologist Pedro M. Sousa, there were a total of “about 5600” deaths.
“The expected would be four thousand and such, which gives a excess of about 1500, more than 35% of what would be expected for this time of year”, specific. The meteorologist at the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere, who is also a researcher at the Dom Luiz Institute of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, withdrew 287 deaths from covid-19. “There are 1200 left, that is about 30%, a mortality excess of 30%”, adds.
“We cannot recognize everything in the heat, but largely related to temperatures extremes”. The expert that the DGS will later analyze the data in detail. However, he estimates thatThere will be less than a thousand deaths attributable to the heat wave, because the excess of 30% [que calculou]except for deaths from covid, it fits very well with the curve of the heat wave”.