Britain suffers record rise in alcohol deaths during COVID pandemic
8 December, 2021, 9:10 pm

Bottles of alcoholic beverages are seen for sale in a shop in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
The United Kingdom saw a record rise in the number of deaths caused by alcohol misuse last year, which public health officials said was linked to the wider social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some 8,974 people died of alcohol-specific causes in 2020, 18.6% more than in 2019 and the largest increase since records began in 2001, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said.
Between 2012 and 2019, alcohol death rates in the United Kingdom had been stable, the ONS said.
Pinpointing the exact factors which drove the increase in deaths would take time, the ONS said.