The number of deaths in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic has been 43% above average, with about 64,500 more people dying than usual

Not all of those excess deaths will be from Covid-19, but the data gives an idea of the impact of the virus

[Thread] http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

If 2020 had been an average year in the UK, the dotted line shows how many people we would have expected to die each week

This is known as expected deaths (it's calculated based on deaths in previous years)

http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

Any deaths above those expected deaths are known as “excess deaths”

Many countries around the world have recorded high numbers of excess deaths, since the pandemic began

http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

Many of these excess deaths are people who count towards the coronavirus death toll

In the UK, 51,804 people had Covid-19 mentioned on their death certificates between 7 March and 5 June

But this does not account for all excess deaths

http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

Any additional excess deaths may have been, directly or indirectly, caused by the coronavirus pandemic

In the UK there have been 12,729 people in this category whose deaths are not officially attributed to Covid-19

http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

Looking at the total number of excess deaths gives us a better understanding of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country as a whole

http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

London has been worst affected during the pandemic

It has registered the highest number of excess deaths

But, the whole of the UK has felt the impact of coronavirus

http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths

What are excess deaths?

@BBCRealityCheck explains why statisticians say they can give us a better indication of how many people have actually died

The UK is one of 27 countries whose data has been analysed by BBC

See more of the @BBCNews research here: http://bbc.in/CoronavirusExcessDeaths