Deaths were nine times higher than normal in parts of Europe during the darkest days of Covid, official figures show.
Bergamo, a city in northern Italy, recorded 156.1 deaths per 100,000 people in the week to March 20 in 2020 — 800.5 per cent higher than the average for that time of year.
This means it logged Europe’s deadliest spell during the Covid crisis, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
For comparison, Birmingham, where deaths spiked most in the UK, saw a 239.5 per cent rise during mid-April.
Nationally, Italy, the first European nation to be engulfed by the virus, saw deaths skyrocket the most.
In the UK, Birmingham logged the highest death rate compared to the pre-pandemic average, with a spike 239.5 per cent in the week to April 17, 2020. London (220.8 per cent), Manchester (206.8 per cent) and Cardiff (146.6 per cent) logged their peaks in deaths that same week
The bars shows the percentage of weeks between January…