Israel has seen excess mortality in July and August which coincided with an uptick in COVID-19 fatalities, according to a Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) report seen by Ynet.
Data shows that 3,840 people have passed away during the month of August, compared to 3,495 in August 2019, an almost 10% increase in mortality. According to the Health Ministry, 377 coronavirus patients have died during that time period – almost 10% of all deaths recorded nationwide.
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Hand sanitizer and gloves at a military cemetery in northern Israel
(Photo: Daniel Salami)
This July, 3,678 people have passed away in Israel, compared to 3,433 people in this same month last year, an increase of over 7%.
The Health Ministry recorded 232 coronavirus deaths in July, about 6.7% of all deaths that month.
So far in September, more than 350 Israelis have succumbed to COVID-19, meaning the country may face another month of excess mortality.
Since the onset of the pandemic in Israel, 1,316 coronavirus patients have lost their battle with the pathogen.
According to the real-time statistics website Worldometers, Israel has 140 coronavirus deaths per one million inhabitants, placing it 51st in the world. The global average stands at 125.2 deaths per one million inhabitants.
For comparison, Belgium recorded 858 COVID-19 deaths per one million inhabitants, 661 in Spain, 649 in Brazil, 620 in the United States, 580 in Sweden, 481 in France, 293 in Iran, 237 in Switzerland and 189 in Portugal.
Countries that fared with the pandemic better than the Jewish state include Germany with 113 deaths per one million inhabitants, Denmark with 111, Ukraine with 85, Hungary with 73, Poland with 61, Greece with 34, Iceland with 29 and Japan with 12 fatalities per one million inhabitants.
Guy Zomer of The Octopus association, which aims to make government information accessible to the public praised the CBS for making the data available.
"In stark difference from various publications from the start of the coronavirus crisis that tried to argue no excess mortality was observed due to the relatively low mortality at the beginning of the year (even before coronavirus), now it is becoming more and more clear that these are not single cases, but a phenomenon that should be monitored and tackled accordingly," said Zomer.
"We must thank and show appreciation to the CBS team who understood the importance of publishing this information, and very quickly joined forces to change the manner and frequency the data is published and provide a quick, up-to-date and detailed picture of mortality in Israel."
Especially on days when it repeatedly turns out that the Health Ministry publishes incorrect information, it is very important to publish more detailed and up-to-date data and to continuously monitor the development of the crisis and the activities of the organizations and parties involved."