Covid deaths 'significant undercount' globally: WHO

May 21, 2021 21:56

At least 3 million people are estimated to have died from the COVID-19 pandemic globally in 2020, about 2 times higher than the 1.8 million official fatality figure reported by countries to the WHO, a "significant undercount" of total deaths directly and indirectly attributed to the coronavirus, the global health agency said on Friday.

The World Health Organisation, in its World Health Statistics report, said that as of December 31, 2020, COVID-19 had infected over 82 million people and killed more than 1.8 million worldwide.

But preliminary estimates suggest the total number of global excess deaths directly and indirectly attributable to COVID-19 in 2020 amount to at least 3 million, 1.2 million higher than the official figures reported by countries to the World Health Organisation.

"With the latest COVID-19 deaths reported to WHO now exceeding 3.3 million, based on the estimates produced for 2020, we are likely facing a significant undercount of total deaths directly and indirectly attributed to COVID-19," WHO said in the report.

It said the term "excess deaths" describes deaths beyond what would have been expected under "normal" conditions.

"Excess deaths" captures not only confirmed deaths, but also COVID-19 deaths that were not correctly diagnosed and reported as well as deaths attributable to the overall crisis conditions.

WHO said these estimates provide a more comprehensive and accurate measure when compared with confirmed COVID-19 deaths alone.

"All countries must have the necessary capacity and resources to accurately collect and use health data even in the midst of an ongoing crisis," WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of data and science to build back more resilient health systems and equitably accelerate towards our shared global goals," he said.

The report noted that some countries only report COVID-19 deaths occurring in hospitals or the deaths of people who have tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, many countries cannot accurately measure or report cause of death due to inadequate or under-resourced health information systems.

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