The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly 15 million direct and indirect deaths worldwide, twice as many as initially estimated.
In total, the health agency indicated that it calculates that 14.9 million deaths may be associated with the pandemic, which represents a midpoint between a minimum of 13.3 million and a maximum of 16.6 million deaths recorded from January 1, 2020 to December 31. December 2021.
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
That total includes the 6.24 million COVID deaths officially reported to the WHO by its 194 member countries.
The rest corresponds to deaths caused by the coronavirus but that were not reported as such, as well as those caused by other diseases that could not be treated due to the overload suffered by the health systems in the acute stage of the pandemic.
The organization has called this calculation “excess death”, that is, the difference between the deaths that were registered in the two-year period and those that could have been expected if the pandemic had not occurred.
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This result has also been influenced by deaths that from a certain point of view were “avoided” because the confinements reduced the risk of traffic and occupational accidents.
“These data not only point to the impact of the pandemic, but also to the need for all countries to invest in stronger health systems that are capable of maintaining health services in times of crisis, and that have strong health information systems,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
