IRELAND'S OFFICIAL coronavirus death toll is likely to have been 'substantially' overstated, a new report from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has found.
As of Monday, 6 July, the Republic of Ireland's official death toll from the pandemic stands at 1,741, however between March and June there were approximately 1,200 'excess deaths'-- far lower than the official death toll.
The term excess deaths is used to describe the number of deaths higher than what is usually recorded at that time of year.
HIQA used data from national death notices website RIP.ie between 11 March and 16 June in the study, and came to the conclusion that, of the over 1,700 deaths contributed to coronavirus, up to 500 may have been predominantly due to other factors.
HIQA's Chief Scientist, Dr Conor Teljeur, spoke to RTÉ News where he said there is "clear evidence of excess deaths occurring since the first reported death due to Covid-19 in Ireland".
"There were about 1,100 to 1,200 more deaths than we would expect based on historical patterns; a 13% increase between 11 March to 16 June.
"However, the number of excess deaths is substantially less than the reported 1,709 Covid-19-related deaths over the same period."
Former Taoiseach and current Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, said the news was "interesting but not a surprise".
"In Ireland we counted all deaths, in all settings, suspected cases even when no lab test was done," he said, "and included people with underlying illnesses who died with Covid but not of it."
"This was [the] right approach but skewed the numbers. Priority is to save lives not look good in league tables."
In the last four weeks Dr Teljeur said, there have been no excess deaths-- rather there have been fewer deaths than is usual at this time of year.
However, Ireland's lockdown could have other effects on health which could take years to come to light, such as elective operations and cervical screening being cancelled for months on end.
