The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 14.9 million direct or indirect deaths associated with Covid-19 between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021, that is, nearly three times what was calculated until now. the moment.
This number represents a point average between a minimum of 13.3 million and a maximum of 16.6 million deaths recorded globally and includes the 5.4 million deaths officially notified to the health agency by its 194 member countries up to that date.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, which continues to cause cases and deaths daily, the WHO has warned that the official figures were far from real since they did not take into account deaths from Covid-19 that were not reported as such.
The total number of deaths associated with #COVID19 worldwide from 2020-2021 may be closer to 14.9 million: New estimates by WHO & @UNDESA.
That’s 9.5 million more deaths than reported https://t.co/qDvaA6t5KZ #HealthData pic.twitter.com/ZjABJzlgiZ
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 5, 2022
Nor did it consider those caused by other diseases that could not be treated due to hospital overload in the face of the virus, which at its most acute led to delaying surgical procedures or postponing chemotherapy sessions for cancer patients.
The agency calls this “excess mortality” and calculated it by making the difference between the number of real deaths in that period and the number of deaths considered normal without a pandemic, based on existing statistics.
However, confinements also prevented deaths, for example traffic accidents, the WHO stressed that it had this when making its calculation.
“These numbers, which force us to reflect, underline not only the impact of the pandemic, but also the need for all countries to invest in stronger health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” said the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the statementreported the AFP news agency.
The criterion for establishing this excess mortality was based on the calculation of the difference between the number of real deaths in that period and the number of deaths considered normal without there being a pandemic, based on existing statistics, explained the body chaired by Tedros.
The WHO launched its alert on Covid-19 on January 30, 2020, weeks after detecting the first cases in China.
This excess mortality includes deaths caused directly by the disease and the c’sused indirectly, due to the blow that the pandemic dealt to health systems and society in general.
