Taiwan’s average excess mortality in the past four years during the COVID-19 pandemic was 3.3 percent, much lower than many of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, a Taipei Medical University (TMU) research team said yesterday.
The research team’s survey report was released at the International Public Health Summit – Partnership for a Healthy & Sustainable Future cohosted by TMU and Thailand’s Mahidol University on TMU’s campus in Taipei yesterday.
The report showed that the average excess mortality of Taiwan between 2020 and last year during the COVID-19 pandemic was 3.3 percent, which was better than the OECD average, similar to Japan, South Korea and Singapore, and significantly lower than Germany, the UK and the US.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Medical University via CNA
No significant increase in excess mortality from stroke, heart disease and cancer was observed during the four years either, the report said.
According to the WHO, excess mortality is measured as the difference between the reported number of deaths (from all causes) in a given period between 2020 and 2024 and an estimate of the expected deaths for that period had the COVID-19 pandemic not occurred. It is used to quantify the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic.
The report also said that the pre-hospital triage system played an important role during the pandemic, as the emergency room service volume of regional hospitals and district hospitals increased to about 120 to 160 percent of the pre-pandemic volume.
The survey was conducted by a research team led by TMU College of Public Health dean Chen Yi-hua (陳怡樺), to analyze the changes in excess mortality from 2010 to last year, and compare the healthcare demands between 2020 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic and between 2015 and 2019 before COVID-19 to determine whether there were delayed or missed care, the university said.
TMU College of Public Health vice dean Bai Chyi-huey (白其卉) yesterday said the survey showed that during the pandemic, the work burden on healthcare providers was increased, but the health system was not paralyzed by a surge of COVID-19 patients.
TMU College of Public Health associate professor Wayne Gao (高志文) said that as Taiwan’s population is aging rapidly, the annual total deaths have been increasing, from about 144,000 in 2010 to about 175,000 in 2019, but with strict border control, a mask mandate and other preventive measures, the COVID-19 virus was contained in Taiwan during the first year of the pandemic, and the total deaths instead dropped to 173,067 in 2020.
Gao said that the total deaths in Taiwan between 2020 and 2021 were 4.85 percent lower than the average expected rate in the decade before, and no excess mortality was observed in the first two years.
Attending the summit, former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who headed the Central Epidemic Command Center during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Taiwan did very well overall in fighting COVID-19, but there were many political influences in the process.
Public health is also part of social science, which concerns negotiating with society and reaching a consensus that is both the most beneficial and least harmful, because too many political conflicts lead to chaos, so from a public health and disease management perspective, people should be united and respect professional decisions, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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