But how DID academics reach figure?

THE study used a highly complicated computer model and its exact methods are unclear.

Researchers first worked out the number of ‘expected’ deaths from 2010 to 2017, based on the deaths during the previous decade, 2000 to 2010.

They compared this figure with the numbers of ‘actual’ deaths during this seven-year period, using records from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The 120,000 ‘excess deaths’ is the difference between the number of actual deaths and expected deaths.

Confusingly, the ONS’s records only go up to 2014 so researchers had to estimate the number of actual deaths in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The computer model was then programmed to do a statistical calculation to determine the most likely cause for the excess deaths.