Covid pandemic may be causing more deaths than Australia’s daily numbers suggest

An analysis of ABS data by the Actuaries Institute shows deaths in Australia have been above the expected range for every week in 2022. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian

Behind the daily death figures, there is a more complicated picture of the impact of Covid-19 in Australia that raises questions about whether Covid could be causing more deaths from ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and dementia.

As cases exploded after the emergence of the Omicron variant, the number of Covid deaths similarly rose, with more than 80% of Australia’s total Covid deaths occurring in 2022.