In Wuhan DSP districts (n=3), the observed total mortality rate was 56% (rate ratio 1.56, 95% confidence interval 1.33 to 1.87) higher than the predicted rate (1147 v 735 per 100?000).
In the whole of Wuhan city (ie, three DSP districts and 10 non-DSP districts), 5954 additional deaths occurred during January-March 2020 than in the same period of 2019, representing a 33% increase in overall mortality rate (table 2). (If the Wuhan DSP adjustment ratio is applied for possible delay in reporting deaths, then the increase in overall mortality in 2020 was 42%.) Among the total excess deaths, 61% (n=3653/5954) were due to covid-19 related pneumonia, 15% (920/5954) to other types of pneumonia (mainly unspecified viral pneumonia), and the remainder (1381/5954, 23%) to a range of other diseases (cardiovascular disease and hypertensive heart disease in particular, and diabetes).
Excess mortality in Wuhan city and other parts of China during the three months of the covid-19 outbreak: findings from nationwide mortality registries