About 27% more people died in the European Union than usual in November, the biggest increase in a year, Reuters reported, citing official EU figures released on Friday.
Excessive mortality - an increase in the total number of deaths from any cause, compared to the same period in previous years - continues to vary from one Member State to another, according to the EU's statistical office, Eurostat.
Bulgaria and Romania recorded the highest levels in November, the last month for which data are available for all 27 EU member states, with over-mortality rates of 88% and 84%, respectively, while Italy recorded 4% more deaths.
The coronavirus pandemic has worsened in Eastern Europe since September, with Bulgaria recording a record number of daily cases in recent weeks fueled by the highly contagious variant Omicron.
Only about 30% of Bulgarians are fully vaccinated, the lowest in the EU, while Romania is the second least vaccinated country in the bloc, with 40% of the population fully vaccinated.
Sweden, which avoided strict quarantines during the health crisis, was the only country covered by Eurostat that did not see an increase in deaths in November.
The highest level of over-deaths in the EU since the beginning of the pandemic was in November 2020, when the figure was 40%.
While the big jumps in over-mortality largely coincide with COVID-19 outbreaks, Eurostat does not break the numbers according to the cause of death, gender or age.
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