The number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain fell by almost a third in the first half of 2022 compared to a year ago, but the coronavirus disease remains the country’s leading cause of death, Reuters and Yahoo News reported.

This is according to official data released on Monday by Spain’s statistics agency INE, according to which 20,915 people died from COVID-19 in the first half of the year, which is less than the 29,300 deaths caused by the coronavirus infection in the same period of 2021. .

A total of 39,444 people died in Spain last year, a 35% decrease compared to 2020, the first year of the pandemic when there were no Covid vaccines.

In 2020, Spain recorded 32,041 more deaths than in 2019, the year before the outbreak of the pandemic in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Spain since the start of the pandemic reached 135,857 in June 2022, according to data released on Monday, with the spread of the coronavirus slowing significantly in the second half of the year.

However, data published by INE shows that the number of suicides in Spain increased by 5.1% in the first 6 months of 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 2,015 deaths – more than those caused by road accidents or drowning.

Health experts and international agencies such as the WHO have repeatedly warned that mental health disorders will be one of the biggest challenges facing humanity both during and after the pandemic.

A report published this spring by the WHO found that more than 40 million people in EU member states reported suffering from depression, with the incidence of depression and anxiety rising by 25% during the pandemic.

PHOTO article: Wirestock / Dreamstime.com.