Globally, nearly 3 times as many people died as a result of Covid than were reported
Key Takeaways:
- According to the most comprehensive analysis of the pandemic's true global toll, nearly three times as many people have died as official data indicate.
- According to the report, the pandemic killed 4.7 million people in the country, mostly during a massive outbreak in May and June of 2021.
- The Indian government, on the other hand, predicts that between January 2020 and December 2021, 480,000 people will die.
As per the new World Health Organization (WHO) report, the most insightful overview of the true global toll of the pandemic so far, nearly three times as many people have died due to Covid-19 as official data show.
According to the UN body, by the end of 2021, Covid-19 had caused 14.9 million additional deaths. From January 2020 to the December 2021 end, the official count of deaths directly attributable to COVID-19 reported to WHO was slightly more than 5.4 million.
The WHO's excess mortality figures include people who died directly from Covid-19 as well as those who died as a result of the outbreak's indirect effects, such as people who couldn't get healthcare for other reasons because systems were overwhelmed during massive outbreaks. It also accounts for deaths avoided during the pandemic, such as those caused by traffic accidents during lockdowns.
However, because of missed deaths in countries with inadequate reporting, the numbers are far higher than the official tally. According to WHO, around 6 in 10 deaths worldwide were not recorded even before the pandemic.
According to the WHO report, India was responsible for nearly half of the uncounted deaths. According to the report, the pandemic killed 4.7 million people in the country, mostly during a massive outbreak in May and June of 2021.
The Indian government, on the other hand, estimates that 480,000 people will die between January 2020 and December 2021. WHO said it had not yet thoroughly examined new data provided this week by India, which has criticized WHO estimates and released its mortality statistics for all causes of death in 2020 on Tuesday. The World Health Organization said it might include a disclaimer in the report mentioning the ongoing talks with India.
The WHO panel, which has been trying to work on the data for months, was using a combination of national and local data, as well as statistical models, to estimate totals where data is lacking – a methodology that India has criticized.
Other independent assessments, such as a report published in Science, have suggested that the death toll in India is far higher than the official government tally.
Other models have concluded that the global death toll is much higher than the statistics show. The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people, and HIV has killed 36 million people since the epidemic began in the 1980s.
Data is the "lifeblood of public health," according to Samira Asma, WHO assistant director-general for data, analytics, as well as delivery for impact, who co-led the calculation process. She called for more support for countries to improve reporting.