Reduced mortality in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic
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The deficit in excess mortality in many high-quality reporting countries is due to decreases in non-natural and natural deaths during the analysed period and less severe influenza seasons in 2020 and 2021 relative to previous years.
“The greater number of these countries have high-quality reporting systems and this deficit is due to deaths from non-natural and natural causes decreasing during the analysed period13 and there having been less severe influenza seasons in 2020 and 2021 relative to previous years19.”
From The WHO estimates of excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
In “Reduced mortality in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the paper reports an 11% reduction in New Zealand’s all-cause mortality during weeks 13–42 of 2020. It explicitly says cause-specific death data were unavailable and only suggests that factors such as fewer road-traffic deaths might have contributed. It therefore does not establish the cited sentence’s explanation in terms of decreases in natural and non-natural deaths across multiple countries. The influenza comparison is attached to a different citation in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredNon-pharmaceutical interventions may have played a role in reducing individuals' risk of death due to unintentional injuries and cirrhosis and related liver conditions.
“Non-pharmaceutical interventions may have played a role in reducing individuals’ risk of death due to these causes, consistent with findings in several high-income settings59.”
From Attributed causes of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in a south Indian city (2023) · cites this paper as [59]
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- Authors
- Kung, S., Doppen, M., Black, M., Hills, T., & Kearns, N.
- Affiliations
- Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (NZ)
- Capital and Coast District Health Board (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Kearns, Nethmi
- Venue
- The Lancet
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 397
- Issue
- 10268
- Pages
- 25
- ISSN
- 0099-5355 (ISSN-L)
- 0140-6736
- PMC
- PMC7833946
- OpenAlex
- W3112541024
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 1
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Lancet (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › COVID-19 and healthcare impacts
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, all-cause mortality, excess mortality, lockdown, public health interventions, New Zealand, mortality trends, border closures, self-isolation, pandemic impact on mortality, 2020-2021 pandemic period
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Humans, Influenza, Human, New Zealand, Pandemics
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