Abstract

The civil registration office in Aden (at Southern Yemen) reported unexpected high number of deaths in May 2020 that made people and authorities worry about this tragedy and the causes behind it. The study aims to explore the relationship of these excess deaths with COVID 19. The study used a review of the death related data from the civil registration records in Aden. Other sources reviewed were the surveillance data of ministry of health, the census data (projection of 2020). A total of 1823 deaths were reported by civil registration offices in Aden in May 2020. The mean daily number of deaths in May 2020 was 58 deaths, which are higher than the daily death threshold of Aden (22 deaths). The deaths in May 2020 were compared with deaths in May 2019 (306 deaths), there was 595% excess deaths. More specifically, 48 out of the 89 hospital deaths occurred in May 2020 were due to COVID 19 and some died in the COVID 19 isolation centers, bringing the deaths due to COVID 19 to 54% of the hospitalized patients. These excess deaths in May 2020 occurred parallel with spread of COVID pandemic in Aden.

Key words: Aden, COVID 19, excess death.