On March 31, Lali Moroshkina, a journalist and former TV presenter, published on her Facebook page a screenshot from the website of Georgian National Statistics Office (Geostat), showing number of deaths in Georgia in 2012-2020. The photo is accompanied by a caption, where the author claims that the COVID-19 pandemic does not exist, while the restrictions are artificial.
Lali Moroshkina manipulatively claims referring to Geostat data that the pandemic does not exist. Geostat notes that death rate increased by 8.3% year-on-year in 2020. Moreover, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC) notes that number of deaths for 2020 is up by 1.8% (895 deaths) compared to average figure of previous five years.
According to Georgian National Statistics Office, 50,537 people died in Georgia in 2020. The majority of deaths were reported in Tbilisi (13,878 people) and fewest deaths were reported in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Region (764 people). Geostat also notes that death rate increased by 8.3% year-on-year in 2020.
Source: Geostat
It is noteworthy that a decline in the death rate had been reported in Georgia since 2016.
Source: Geostat
Amid declining number of deaths, the mortality ratio decreased from 13.6 in 2016 to 12.5 in 2019.
Source: Geostat
is noteworthy that number of deaths stood at 13,011 in the first quarter of 2019 and decreased by 244 in the first quarter of 2020. Georgia confirmed the first case of COVID-19 infection on February 26, 2020. The first COVID-19 death was reported on April 4, 2020. Death rate increased in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 year-on-year, along with increased cases of COVID-19 infection and deaths.
According to Geostat, 10,366 people died in the third quarter of 2020 against 10,159 people in the same period of 2019. 16,377 deaths were reported in the fourth quarter of 2020, up by 4,677 (11,660 deaths) compared to the same period of 2019.
According to the report One Year with COVID-19 released by the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, as of December 31, 2020, the total number of deaths for all causes in Georgia exceeded the figures of previous years. The report notes that as of December 31, 2020, 49,074 people died in Georgia, while average number of deaths for 2015-2019 stood at 48,179.
Source: ncdc.ge
Meanwhile, according to the data of the European Mortality Monitoring Project (EuroMOMO), number of deaths has increased sharply in European countries in 2020-2021 compared to 2019.
Source:EuroMOMO
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