According to Guy, after a medical investigator assessed the number of deaths that had occurred within a four-month period in Russia, it was found that thousands more had died this year when compared with the similar period in 2019.

While commending Jamaican healthcare workers for their arduous efforts at battling the highly contagious virus, which has taken the lives of nine Jamaicans, Guy urged his government counterpart to check with the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) to ascertain the number of deaths this year when compared with 2019.

The Gleaner obtained preliminary and provisional figures from the RGD of the number of deaths for the first three months of 2019 and 2020.

Preliminary data for the period January to March 2019 and provisional data for the similar timeline in 2020 show a difference of 302 deaths in March.

Preliminary deaths for March 2019 were 1,684 while the provisional number for March 2020 was 1,382.