Experts call for investigation over ‘catastrophe’ of excess deaths running thousands higher than during pandemic

Excess deaths in the past year were thousands higher than in the pandemic year of 2021 – 67,724 vs 54,770 above the pre-pandemic five-year average – and just a quarter were from Covid. Lucy Johnston has the story in the Express. Unexpected deaths are more than 10% higher than the pre-Covid average, with experts warning we are facing “a catastrophe of equal proportion to the pandemic itself”. They are calling for an urgent investigation into the causes, with figures showing that there were more excess – or unexpected – losses last year than in 2021.