The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, since the beginning of the pandemic, close to 15 million people worldwide have been killed by COVID-19 disease or have died as a direct result the pandemic’s impact on health systems unprepared for patient demand over the past two years..The estimated figures are more than double the official death count of six million deaths..WHO’s “excess mortality” data shows the fatality rate associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic between the beginning of 2020 until the end of 2021 was approximately 14.9 million..The global health authority said the figures could potentially have reached as many as 16.6 million dead..Excess mortality is the difference between the pandemic death toll and the number of deaths that would be expected in a typical non-pandemic year based on data from preceding years, according to the WHO..WHO said there would have been more deaths countable in the excess mortality figures since many deaths would have been avoided as a result of the population not having been exposed to typical risks — such as workplace casualties and road accidents — during lockdowns..Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas accounted for 84% of the excess deaths in the WHO’s estimated calculation..Overall, low-income countries fared best, accounting for the lowest mortality rates at 4%. High-income countries were 15% of the excess mortality rates, and middle-income countries fared worst with a whopping 81% of the death toll..“These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic, but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said in a statement..The breakdown of the estimated data between direct deaths with and from COVID-19, and others caused by the pandemic was not provided by WHO..COVID-19 death figures have been controversial throughout the pandemic in great part because of limitations of testing and the differences in how countries count COVID-19 deaths, and how authorities differ on what constitutes a COVID-19 death..A number of nations, one of which is India, have disputed WHO’s methodology for counting COVID deaths. They pushed back against the theory that there were far more deaths than have been officially counted. India’s Health and Family Welfare Ministry called WHO’s data collection methods “questionable” and said that the new death estimates were published “without adequately addressing India’s concerns.”.Experts in the field of epidemiology expressed the importance of accurate data..“This may seem like just a bean-counting exercise, but having these WHO numbers is so critical to understanding how we should combat future pandemics and continue to respond to this one,” said Dr. Albert Ko. Ko is an infectious diseases specialist at the Yale School of Public Health and was not connected to the WHO research..A senior WHO director, Samira Asma, acknowledged “numbers are sometimes controversial” and all estimates are only an approximation of the viruses’ effects..“It has become very obvious during the entire course of the pandemic, there have been data that is missing,” she told reporters during a press briefing on Thursday..“Basically, all of us were caught unprepared.”
