Record number of alcohol-related deaths in Britain amid lockdown

In England and Wales, the annual number of alcohol-related deaths skyrocketed in 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed today, noting a very large increase in this number from the first quarantine on March.

In 2020, 7,423 people died from overeating alcohol, an increase of about 20% compared to last year, the British Bureau of Statistics announced. This is the largest number of annual deaths recorded since the agency counted them, ie since 2001.

Alcohol mortality rates in the first quarter of 2020 (January to March) were “statistically similar to those of the previous two years,” experts say, but the rates for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020 were significantly higher than those of all other years “.

“The National Bureau of Statistics notes that this increase coincides with the beginning of the pandemic,” said Santie Bonifeis, director of research at the Alcohol Research Institute, as well as the three quarantines, the first of which was announced by the British government on 23 March 2020.

The majority of deaths recorded by the Office are associated with long-term addiction problems: 80% were due to an alcohol-induced liver disease, while 10% were caused by alcohol-related behaviors or dangerous mental states, and 6% in alcohol poisoning.

“This shows that the increase is not explained by the fact that people who drank in the past at less dangerous levels increased their consumption during the pandemic,” said Boniface.

According to her, the reasons for this “worrying” finding should be sought mainly in terms of increased consumption in people who already drank a lot, but also in the lack of “access to care”.

“For example, liver disease often leads to emergencies, but people may be afraid to go to emergencies because of the virus,” he explains.