The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that the covid-19 pandemic has caused about 15 million direct and indirect deaths worldwide, twice as much as initially estimated.
In total, the health agency indicated that it calculates that 14.9 million deaths can 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. January 2020 to December 31, 2021.
That total includes the 6.24 million notified covid deaths officially to WHO by its 194 member countries.
The rest corresponds to deaths caused by covid but were not reported as suchas 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.
This result has also been influenced by deaths that, from a certain point of view, "avoided" because the lockdowns reduced the risk of traffic and occupational accidents.
"These data not only point to the impact of the pandemic, but to the need for all countries to invest in stronger health systems that they are able to maintain health services in times of crisis, and that they have strong health information systems"WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
