COVID-19 became reason for deaths of 10,000 people in Flanders in 2020: Reports

The situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic in Flanders has resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 people in 2020. It is makes pandemic as the most common cause of death in both men and women in absolute numbers that year.

In 2020, overall, 70,219 people died in Flanders, which is up from 61,753 people in 2019, and the highest number since the registrations began in 1993, the official mortality figures for 2020 of the Agency for Care and Health showed.

Flemish Minister of Welfare and Health Hilde Crevits said, “Due to the increasing ageing population, we expect more and more deaths over the past years. Every year, we see an increase, but for 2020 there is more to it. COVID-19 was then be the cause of death for over 10,000 people.”

As per the estimations, the death rate would be lower again in 2021 compared to the pandemic-driven 2020, which is expected to be an outlier. Overall, 19,835 people died as a result of the virus across Belgium in the first pandemic year (March to December 2020).

In absolute numbers, Covid-19 was the most common cause of death in 2020 in both men and women in Flanders, with more than twice as many deaths as the second cause in each case (for men, this was lung cancer, for women, it was cardiac decompensation and heart disease).

Among 70-year-olds, the virus was the main cause of death, while for younger people, aside from lung cancer, breast cancer in women and suicide remained the most common causes of death, however, the mortality risk of cancers, cardiovascular disease and dementia continues to decline as it did in previous years.