“For western European countries such as Spain, England and Wales, Italy, Belgium, among others, the last time such large magnitudes of declines in life expectancy at birth were observed in a

single year was during the second world war," Dr José Manuel Aburto, a co-lead author of the study, was quoted as saying by The Guardian. The researchers said that the fall in life

expectancy across countries could be linked to official COVID-19 deaths, according to _Reuters_. "The fact that our results highlight such a large impact that is directly attributable

to COVID-19 shows how devastating a shock it has been for many countries," Dr Ridhi Kashyap, co-lead author of the paper, was quoted as saying by _Reuters_. “We urgently call for the