Almost four in five alcohol-related deaths were males and hospitalisations dropped significantly during the first national COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020.

Some 1950 Australians died from alcohol-related injuries and 30,000 were taken to hospital in 2019-2020, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released on Tuesday.

Overall, about one in six deaths related to injury during that time involved alcohol.

"However, this is likely an underestimate, previous research has shown the presence of alcohol is often not included in a patient's records," according to the institute spokeswoman Heather Swanston.

The leading cause of death among both men and women was suicide, followed by accidental poisoning.

Falls, self-harm and assault were the leading cause of hospitalisation linked to alcohol-related injuries.

Men aged between 20-24 and 45-49 were most likely to need treatment, while for women aged 45-49 were at greatest risk.

Hospital admissions dropped 20 per cent during the first national lockdown in April 2020 but returned to pre-pandemic levels by June.

"'Most injury events are preventable, but the consumption of alcohol can increase the risk of injury," Dr Swanston said.

People living in very remote areas had the highest rate of hospitalisations, about eight times higher than the national average and 11 times higher than in major cities.