The last two weeks of July – the 29th and 30th calendar week – brought a significant increase in deaths, as data from Statistics Austria show. Accordingly, from July 18 to 31, a fifth more people died than the average for the same period from 2015 to 2019.
The causes of death have not yet been evaluated. However, the heat and the unusually high number of corona diseases for July could have contributed to the increased mortality. Statistics Austria reported a particularly large number of deaths in the penultimate week of July. 1,830 people died in Austria – a quarter more than the average for the years 2015 to 2019. Statistics Austria reported 1,706 deaths in the last week of July: 15 percent more than the average.
Both weeks were characterized by great heat: The July highs reported by the ZAMG were between July 20th and 25th in all federal states. It was the hottest with 37.8 degrees in Seibersdorf. Summer heat waves usually lead to an increase in deaths.
The many corona diseases were also unusual this year. Unlike in the first two years of the pandemic, there was a larger wave of infections this summer. Accordingly, AGES also records a relatively large number of deaths: 320 people died in July after a corona infection – five times as many as in July 2021 (64) and seven times as many as in 2020 (45).
Source: Nachrichten
