Covid-19 mortality rate in Latvia higher than average in Europe

RIGA - The number of Covid-19 related deaths in Latvia in the past 14 days per 1,000,000 residents is by 32 percent higher than average in Europe, according to the annotation to the amendments on Covid-19 regulations prepared by the Health Ministry.

At present, the cumulative 14-day number of deaths per one million residents in Latvia is 136.4 compared to the average 103.1 in Europe.

According to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the total number of Covid-19 cases in Latvia has reached 68,658, while the number of deaths has reached 1,250 or 1.82 percent of all infections.

Meanwhile, Estonia reports a total of 46,334 Covid-19 cases and 433 deaths or 0.93 percent of all cases, while Lithuania reports 184,948 infections and 2,885 deaths or 1.56 percent of all cases.

As reported, Riga Stradins University researcher Anda Kivite-Urtane said at the Saeima social and labor affairs committee meeting on Tuesday that Covid-19 currently is the third most common cause of death . Meanwhile, the Central Statistical Bureau data suggest that the number of deaths has increased by 42.8 percent in the first two weeks of this year  to 1,641 deaths on January 4-17 compared to 1,156 deaths in the respective period last year.