Hong Kong’s death rate hit a 10-year high last year, but health experts warned against putting the increase down to coronavirus-related deaths only.

A total of 62,100 deaths were logged last year and the provisional standardised death rate was 8.2 per 1,000 people, the highest since 2012 when the same level was recorded, the government revealed on Thursday.

But population health specialists and an epidemiologist said deaths logged over the pandemic could have been caused by other factors, including delayed treatment for people with other illnesses because of the priority given to the battle against Covid-19.