London, May 20 (TIWN) Nearly 1 million extra deaths relating to the Covid-19 pandemic occurred in 29 high income countries in 2020, finds a study published by The BMJ on Thursday.

Overall, an estimated 979,000 total excess deaths occurred in 2020 in the 29 countries analysed. Except for Norway, Denmark and New Zealand, all other countries examined had more deaths than expected in 2020, particularly in men.  The study by a team of international researchers, led by Nazrul Islam from the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, set out to estimate the direct and indirect effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on mortality in 2020 in 29 high income countries.  Using a mathematical model, they calculated weekly excess deaths in 2020 for each country, accounting for age and sex differences between countries, and also for seasonal and yearly trends in mortality over the five preceding years.