The final months of 2020 were Malta’s deadliest in years, with a steep rise in mortality linked to the growing number of COVID-19 deaths, figures show.

Figures published last week by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical body, showed Malta registering 37.5% more deaths in November than the average in the same month of the previous four years.

The increase was slightly lower in September and October – 22.2 and 21.1% respectively – but starting in July, Malta’s additional deaths were consistently above the EU average.

The statistics are for the total number of deaths and do not give any specific cause.

However, one of Malta’s top epidemiologists, Neville Calleja, told Times of Malta the rates are clearly correlated with the number of COVID-19 deaths registered during the period.

“The number of excess deaths gives us a very good overview of what is happening, not just in Malta but elsewhere too. The numbers went up when the COVID-19 deaths went up and so it is very likely that the bulk of the increase is a result of that,” Calleja said.

An increase in deaths could also result from what Calleja said was an “indirect effect” of the pandemic: people failing to seek treatment out of fear of getting infected with COVID-19.

The number of deaths went up when the COVID-19 deaths went up

Though they would have died of other causes, such behaviour could have aggravated their health issues to the extent that they died as a result, contributing to the increase in excess mortality rates.

While excess deaths in Malta were largely in line with the European average in the first half of the year, there was a dramatic spike in September, shooting well above the EU average.

At the time, Malta’s COVID-19 mortality rate was also the highest in Europe, going past Spain’s to reach 3.6 deaths per 100,000.

To Calleja, this is another sign that the increase in deaths throughout 2020 was influenced heavily by the pandemic.

“The fact that the peaks tally serves a good indication of what the deaths were caused by,” he said.

Malta’s virus death toll stands at 251.

While the increases occurred mostly towards the end of the year, 2020 had started off on a better note.

In fact, in February there were 7.9% fewer fatalities registered than the average of the previous four years. June was also less deadly, with a drop of 4.4%.

At EU level, Poland reported the highest increase in additional deaths in all of Europe when it registered 97.2% more fatalities in November.