In the last four weeks (2 to 29 November) there were 2,009 more deaths than the average recorded in the same period of 2015-2019, says INE, indicating that 1,915 of these deaths were caused by Covid-19, representing 95.3 percent of the increase observed in this period.

Of the total deaths from March 2 to November 29, 43,600 were men and 44,192 women, plus 4,742 and 6,034 deaths, respectively, than the average number of deaths in the same period of 2015-2019.

More than 70 percent of deaths were of people aged 75 years or over. Compared to the average number of deaths observed in the period, 9,151 more people aged 75 and older died, of which 6,834 were aged 85 and older.

Of the total deaths recorded between March 2 and November 29, 52,741 occurred in hospitals and 35,051 outside the hospital context, corresponding to increases of 4,231 and 6,545 deaths, respectively, in relation to the average of deaths in 2015-2019 in the same period.

The greatest increase was registered in the North region, except for the last week of June, the first of July, the last of September and the first of October, when it was higher in the Metropolitan Area of ??Lisbon.

Considering the comparative evolution of mortality in Portugal with the two countries geographically closest, Spain and France, INE highlights “the significantly higher increase in excess mortality in the first weeks of the pandemic, especially in Spain, in relation to what was observed in Portugal ”.

“The number of covid-19 deaths provides only a partial measure of these effects. A more comprehensive measure of the impact on mortality can be provided by the difference between the number of deaths, by all causes of death, in 2020 and the average of the last five years (2015-2019), despite other effects on mortality, such as seasonal flu and hot or cold spikes in temperature”, says the INE.