PARIS (Reuters) – French mortality rates between May 1 and 18 were six percent lower than for the same period last year and one percent below the rate seen over that period in 2018, despite the coronavirus epidemic, statistics agency INSEE said on Friday.
During the peak of the epidemic between March 1 and April 30, French mortality rates were 26% higher than the year-earlier period and 16% higher than the corresponding period in 2018, provisional data showed.
“Since May 1… we no longer excess mortality compared to the two previous years” the agency said in a statement.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Toby Chopra)
