Six Spanish provinces registered more than twice as many deaths during the coronavirus pandemic as during a regular year, new figures show

Six Spanish provinces registered more than twice as many deaths during the coronavirus pandemic as during a regular year, new figures show.

Excess fatalities between early March and early June were highest in Segovia (+147%), Madrid (+122%), Guadalajara (+115%), Ciudad Real (+112%), Soria and Albacete (+103%).

In these six territories alone, there were 20,542 more deaths than the expected count for a normal year. Eight out of 10 (16,000) deaths occurred in Madrid.

Excess deaths are one of the best ways to determine the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.

They are calculated by comparing the number of people who died in a given period of time, as reflected by the death records, against the average number of deaths during that same period in prior years (in this case, over the last five years).

In Spain as a whole, there were 46,089 excess deaths over the period, a 38.8% increase from the expected number, based on historical trends.