Deaths increased by 48,000 during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Spain's National Institute of Statistics (INE). Between March 2 and May 24, 2020, the weeks when the health crisis hit Spain the hardest, 143,205 people died from all causes. The previous year, on the same dates, 95,099 people had died. This creates an excess mortality from Covid-19 of 67% (48,106).

From 1 January, deaths increased by 24.1% in the first 21 weeks of 2020, until 24 May, according to an experimental study carried out by the INE with data obtained from civil registers and compared with the historical series with the aim of estimating deaths during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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This surplus of 48,000 deaths contradicts the official figures of the Ministry of Health, which puts the number of deaths at 27,127, after it eliminated almost 2,000 deaths overnight a few weeks ago. The Spanish Government refused to include in the official data an approximation taking into account the historical series of deaths, and neither have the figures for deaths in old people's homes been made public.

The INE report reveals that the highest number of deaths occurred in week 14, between 30th March and 5th April, with 20,575 people dying, 154.6% more than in the same week in 2019. From 16 March to 19 April, the increase in deaths was also more than 50%, while in the last week - up to 24 May - the data had stabilised and the estimated number of deaths was 7,470 people, a similar figure to that of the same week in 2019, when there were 7,429 deaths.

This INE statistic, called 'Estimated Weekly Deaths during the COVID-19 outbreak (EDeS)', will be published every two weeks on Wednesdays and will provide data with a 10-day delay. The study revealed that the greatest accumulated increases in deaths in the first 21 weeks were among those aged over 90 years old (with 12,824 more deaths, 27.2% more than in 2019) and in those aged 85 to 89 years old (with an increase of 10,006 deaths, 25.0% more). In turn, in the ages under 54 years old, there were hardly any differences as compared with the deaths registered in the same weeks in the year 2019.

By Autonomous Community, the greatest increases in deaths in the first 21 weeks of the year were in Comunidad de Madrid (72.7%), Castilla-La Mancha (58.0%) and Cataluña (41.0%). Conversely, the smallest increases were observed in Baleares (0.5%) and Murcia (1.1%). Specifically, in Madrid there were 35,647 deaths, compared with 20,636 last year; in Castile-La Mancha there were 13,571, compared with 8,591 in 2019; and in Catalonia 39,539, compared with 28,045 the previous year.

The British press echoes the gap in Spain

The Financial Times published an article on Wednesday echoing the disparity in the numbers in Spain, calling the official figures "erratic" and pointing out the discrepancies.

In an article entitled "Misinformation casts shadow on Spain's de-confinement strategy", the British publication points out that while on Tuesday the government reported, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, zero deaths from Covid-19 throughout the territory, health authorities in Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha reported 17 deaths from the virus.

"The confusion, in one of the countries most affected by the pandemic, underlines what experts say is a major challenge as Spain relaxes its blockade: a misleading impression that the threat of the coronavirus has passed, which could encourage people to behave recklessly," the newspaper warns.