WHO says 'significant undercount' of COVID-19 death toll; Count 2-3 times higher

The World Health Organization on May 21 said that the official tolls showing the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be “significantly undercount”. The WHO said that the preliminary estimates suggest that the total number of global “excess deaths” in 2020 amount to at least 3 million, which is 1.2 million higher than the official figures reported by countries to the UN agency. It said that the organization estimated that around 3.4 million people have died directly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic by May 2021. 

While speaking at a virtual press briefing, Samira Asma, WHO's Assistant Director-General in its data and analytics division, said, “This number would truly be two to three times higher. So I think safely about 6 to 8 million deaths could be an estimate on a cautionary note”. 

WHO data analyst William Msemburi further informed that this estimate included both unreported COVID-19 deaths as well as indirect deaths due to the lack of hospital capacity and restrictions on movements among other factors. He said that the challenge is that the reported coronavirus death toll figures are an “undercount of that full impact”. The UN agency did not give a breakdown of the figure, referred to by health experts as “excess mortality”. 

(Image: WHO/Website)

‘Countries must have resources to accurately collect’ 

The WHO explained that figures 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. The agency said that this provides a more comprehensive and accurate measure when compared with confirmed deaths alone. It added that the pandemic has likely increased deaths from other causes due to disruption to health service delivery and routine immunizations, fewer people seeking care, and shortages of funding for non-COVID-19 services.

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

He added, “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”. 

(Image: Twitter/PTI/Pixabay)