The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported a surge in Aussies dying. In 2022, there were 75,593 deaths that occurred by May 31 and were registered by July 31, which is 10,757 (16.6 per cent) more than the historical average. May alone saw 16,124 deaths, 1,922 (13.5 per cent) above the historical average.

Of those deaths, 4,465 were attributed to Covid-19, though it is hard to distinguish died ‘with’ from died ‘from’ Covid-19.

Western Australian Premier, Mark McGowan, recently clarified on Channel Nine that 90 per cent of the state’s recorded deaths had comorbidities and that only 10 per cent of the deaths were Covid-19 alone.

The 4,465 Covid-19 deaths in the ABS data were certified by a doctor assigning an ICD-10 code of U07.1 or U07.2. U07.1 indicates Covid-19 virus identified, U07.2 indicates Covid-19 virus not identified.

The top four leading causes of death for Australians were cancer 20,686, dementia 6,763, ischaemic heart disease 5,854 and non-Covid-19 related respiratory disease 5,051.

This article appeared in  The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 1 September 2022.