LONDON (Reuters) – Some 62,000 more people than usual have died in the United Kingdom during this year’s coronavirus pandemic according to the latest available data, an expert from the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.

Epidemiologists say excess mortality – deaths from all causes that exceed the five-year average for the time of year – is the best way of gauging the number to have died from a disease outbreak because it is internationally comparable.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by Michael Holden)

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