WHO official: Spike in European deaths since March linked to COVID-19

About 159,000 more people in 24 European countries have died since early March than would have ordinarily been expected, a World Health Organization official said on Thursday, adding a "significant proportion" of the spike is linked to COVID-19.

"What we have seen very clearly is that the peak in excess mortality corresponds in those countries to the peak of the transmission of COVID-19," Katie Smallwood, a WHO emergency official, told reporters. "This gives us a very good indication that a very significant proportion of this excess deaths is linked and due to COVID-19."