The sign of an epidemic recession? Mortality returned to the same levels in May as those observed in the past two years, according to figures published Friday by INSEE, confirming the decline in deaths in the regions most affected by the coronavirus.
Since May 1, "there is no more excess mortality compared to the previous two years," says the National Institute of Statistics in its weekly publication on mortality. Between May 1 and June 1, 49,178 deaths were recorded on the territory, 3% less than in 2019 and as much as in 2018, according to these still provisional figures, based on state data -civil who do not detail the causes of death.
Ile-de-France is still an exception
After several weeks of consecutive increases, noted since March 1, the number of deaths in territories strongly affected by the epidemic such as Grand-Est, Hauts-de-France or Bourgogne-Franche-Comté have also found levels similar to those of 2019 and 2018. Only Ile-de-France still experiences mortality "a little higher than in previous years", details INSEE.
[Death file] Update of the number of # deaths per day and by # department. Cumulative daily deaths in 2018, 2019 and 2020 from March 1 to June 1, and daily deaths transmitted electronically until June 5 👉 https://t.co/qzHxPXn8jR pic.twitter.com/NDcTJjuBS1
- Insee (@InseeFr) June 12, 2020However, this drop in deaths is more visible for those taking place in hospitals or clinics (-8% compared to 2019). Deaths in May in retirement homes or at home remain more numerous than last year (+ 5 and + 7% respectively).
Since March, however, mortality has remained high with 178,706 deaths occurring between March 1 and June 1, i.e. 16% more than in 2019 (+25,200 deaths) and 12% more than in 2018 (+18,500 death). Some 29,346 people have died in France from the coronavirus since the start of the epidemic. In recent weeks, the spread of the virus has experienced a serious slowdown.