Excess Deaths during Influenza and Coronavirus Disease and Infection-Fatality Rate for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, the Netherlands.
Emerg Infect Dis
; 27(2): 411-420, 2021 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1076425
ABSTRACT
Since the 2009 influenza pandemic, the Netherlands has used a weekly death monitoring system to estimate deaths in excess of expectations. We present estimates of excess deaths during the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic and 10 previous influenza epidemics. Excess deaths per influenza epidemic averaged 4,000. The estimated 9,554 excess deaths (41% in excess) during the COVID-19 epidemic weeks 12-19 of 2020 appeared comparable to the 9,373 excess deaths (18%) during the severe influenza epidemic of 2017-18. However, these deaths occurred in a shorter time, had a higher peak, and were mitigated by nonpharmaceutical control measures. Excess deaths were 1.8-fold higher than reported laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 deaths (5,449). Based on excess deaths and preliminary results from seroepidemiologic studies, we estimated the infection-fatality rate to be 1%. Monitoring of excess deaths is crucial for timely estimates of disease burden for influenza and COVID-19. Our data complement laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 death reports and enable comparisons between epidemics.
Keywords
COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; coronavirus disease; epidemics; excess deaths; infection-fatality rate; influenza; influenza viruses; mortality; mortality rate; respiratory infections; seasonality; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; surveillance; the Netherlands; time series; trends; viruses; zoonoses
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Influenza, Human
/
Epidemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Emerg Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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