According to a new estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO), the death toll from COVID-19 directly or indirectly between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 could be around 15 million.
This figure is almost three times the official count (5.4 million) of deaths directly due to COVID-19 and was reported to WHO in that period.
The new figures show people who died of covid-19 as well as people who died as an indirect result of the outbreak, including those who could not access healthcare for other conditions.
The WHO says the number of deaths is also far higher due to countries without adequate reporting. Even before the pandemic, about six out of 10 deaths were not recorded worldwide.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “These grim figures point not only to the impact of the pandemic, but the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can maintain essential health services during the crisis.” “
death toll in india
Breaking down the figures, the UN health agency has said that almost half of the deaths not counted so far were in India. Reports suggest that 47 lakh people died as a result of the pandemic in the country, mainly during the surge in May and June 2021.
The central government, however, keeps its death toll very low – around 4,80,000 for the January 2020-December 2021 period.
According to the data of the Union Health Ministry, in 2020, when Covid-19 was first reported in the country, 1.48 lakh people lost their lives due to the pandemic, which is much less than in 2021, when 3.32 lakh people died due to this disease. were killed due to illness. ,
The government has also pushed back against the WHO’s estimates and objected to classifying India as a Tier 2 country.
The WHO says countries that provided their full mortality data for the duration of the pandemic were classified as Tier 1. India is in Tier 2 as it did not share official data with WHO.
After the data was released, the Center said: “Despite India’s strong objection to the use of mathematical models to present higher mortality estimates, WHO issued additional mortality estimates without adequately addressing India’s concerns The validity of the model and data methodology used is questionable.”
The WHO has said that it has not yet fully examined the new data provided by India this week. The agency plans to update its estimate as more data emerges.