WHO estimates that the true global covid death toll is about 15 million.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID pandemic has killed nearly 15 million people worldwide.
Over the course of two years, this equates to 13% more deaths than would be expected.
The WHO believes that many countries undercounted Covid deaths, with only 5.4 million reported.
According to the report, India had 4.7 million Covid deaths, which is ten times the official figure and accounts for nearly a third of all Covid deaths worldwide.
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The Indian government has expressed reservations about the estimate, citing “concerns” about the methodology, but other studies have reached similar conclusions about the country’s death toll.
The WHO uses the term “excess deaths” to describe how many more people died than would be expected based on mortality in the same area prior to the pandemic.
India has the highest Covid-19 toll in the world, according to WHO.
These calculations also account for deaths that were not directly caused by Covid but rather resulted from its side effects, such as people being unable to access hospitals for needed care.
It also explains some regions’ poor record-keeping and limited testing at the start of the crisis. However, the WHO stated that the majority of the additional 9.5 million deaths over the 5.4 million Covid deaths were thought to be direct, rather than indirect, deaths caused by the virus.
“It’s a tragedy,” Dr Samira Asma of the WHO’s data department said of the figures’ magnitude.
“It’s a staggering number, and it’s critical that we remember those who have died and hold policymakers accountable,” she said.
“If we do not count the dead, we will miss out on the chance to be better prepared next time.”
According to WHO data, countries with the highest total excess deaths included Russia, Indonesia, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. Russia’s death toll is three-and-a-half times the country’s official death toll.
The report also examines the rates of excess deaths in relation to the population size of each country. During the years 2020 and 2021, the UK’s excess mortality rate, like that of the United States, Spain, and Germany, was higher than the global average.
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China, which is still pursuing a “zero Covid” policy involving mass testing and quarantines, Australia, which imposed strict travel restrictions to keep the virus out of the country, Japan, and Norway were among the countries with low excess mortality rates.
Because there is little data on deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, the academics who helped compile the report admit that their estimates are more speculative. For 41 of Africa’s 54 countries, there were no reliable statistics.
Prof. Jon Wakefield of the University of Washington in Seattle assisted the WHO, telling the BBC: “We urgently need better data collection systems.”
“It’s a scandal that people can be born and die with no record of their deaths.” As a result, we must make significant investments in countries’ registration systems in order to obtain accurate and timely data.”
