Prognosis
Coronavirus Is Leading to Europe’s Highest Deaths in Decades
- Spain reports highest March deaths since Franco rule in 1975
- Early signs show Covid-19 isn’t just displacing other causes
Healthcare workers attend to a coronavirus patient at the Principe de Asturias hospital in Spain on April 22.
Photographer: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images
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Overall deaths from all causes have surged in many of Europe’s largest economies since the coronavirus pandemic took hold, providing an early report card on their response to the crisis.
Spain recorded almost 49,000 total deaths last month, the most for March since 1975, the year dictator Francisco Franco died. The U.K. reported its biggest weekly tally for 20 years on Tuesday. The only large European country that hasn’t reported a surge in deaths in 2020 so far is Germany, where the authorities have said the outbreak is under control.