The Covid-19 pandemic killed 13.3 to 16.6 million people in 2020 and 2021, the WHO estimates Thursday — up to quadruple the number of deaths officially ascribed to the disease.
The World Health Organization’s long-awaited estimate of the total number of deaths caused by the epidemic — including lives lost as a result of its knock-on consequences — finally gives a figure to the crisis’s overall impact.
The data provide a more accurate picture of the greatest pandemic in a century, which has killed nearly one in 500 people worldwide, according to Thursday’s estimates, and continues to claim thousands of lives each week.
Between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, the total death toll related directly or indirectly with the Covid-19 pandemic was about 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million),” according to the UN health agency.
The estimates are very sensitive because they reflect how governments throughout the world handled the crisis, with some countries, notably India, disputing the significantly higher amounts.
India has recorded 481,000 Covid-19 deaths for 2020-21, but the WHO estimates that the total number is between 3.3 million and 6.5 million.
COVID-19 pandemic is “far from over,” according to a WHO expert.
“We must hold ourselves and our policymakers accountable for the lives brutally cut short, lives we lost,” Samira Asma, the WHO’s statistics chief, said during a press conference.
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Impact-related deathsExcess mortality is estimated as the difference between the number of fatalities that occurred and the number that would have been predicted if the pandemic had not occurred, using data from previous years.
Excess mortality refers to deaths caused directly by Covid-19 disease as well as deaths caused indirectly by the pandemic’s influence on health services and society.
It also takes into account deaths averted during the pandemic, such as a reduced chance of work-related deaths or car accidents.
After cases of the novel coronavirus expanded beyond China, the WHO declared Covid an international public health emergency on January 30, 2020.
In 2020 and 2021, countries reported 5.42 million Covid-19 deaths to the WHO, a total that has now risen to 6.24 million, including deaths in 2022.
The Geneva-based organisation has long claimed that the true number of deaths caused by Covid infections is much higher than what has been documented.
COVID-19 has been dubbed a “enemy against humanity” by the WHO.
Deaths associated to the pandemic indirectly are due to various illnesses for which individuals were unable to seek care due to the crisis’s overburdening of health systems.
This could involve postponing surgery or treatment for cancer patients.
Recognizing the problem
According to the WHO, the majority of the extra deaths (84 percent) occurred in south and southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States were responsible for 68 percent of all excess deaths.
Excess deaths were concentrated in high-income countries (15%), upper-middle-income countries (28%), lower-middle-income countries (53%), and low-income countries (4%).
Men died in greater numbers than women, with 57 percent of men and 43 percent of women dying globally.
People over the age of 60 accounted for 82 percent of the excess fatalities.
According to the WHO, the 14.9 million figure was calculated by prominent international experts who devised a methodology for generating estimates in the absence of data.
