Covid killed nearly 15 million people in two years, WHO excess deaths data shows
- WHO estimate puts coronavirus death toll at 2.75 times higher than the reported 5.4 million in 2020-21
- Toll nearly 10 times higher than official count for India, whereas China data does not offer new insight
Covid-19 directly and indirectly killed 14.9 million people over 2020 and 2021 – nearly three times more than reported deaths in the period – according to the latest World Health Organization data.
The calculation of excess deaths is an important tool to gauge the full impact of the pandemic as many countries lack the mechanism to report the mortality caused by Covid-19 in a timely manner.
The WHO estimate released on Thursday put the coronavirus death toll 2.75 times higher than the reported 5.4 million in 2020-21.
Around 84 per cent of the excess deaths were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas, it said.
The estimate includes deaths from all causes, such as also those from other health conditions when the pandemic restricted access to medical services. The impact of behavioural changes, such as fewer traffic accidents because of social distancing measures and movement restrictions, were also taken into account.
Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that occurred and the number of expected deaths in the absence of the pandemic, based on data from earlier years.