LONDON (Reuters) – About 64,500 more people than usual have died in the United Kingdom during this year’s coronavirus pandemic, an expert from the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.

“Across the UK about 52,000 deaths have mentioned COVID with 64,500 ‘excess’ deaths,” ONS head of health analysis Nick Stripe tweeted.

Epidemiologists say excess mortality – deaths from all causes that exceed the five-year average for the time of year – is the best way of gauging the number who have died from a disease outbreak because it is internationally comparable.