Covid pandemic death toll may be thrice than reported, claims study

According to a new study, Covid pandemic may have been three times deadlier than reported till now.

Around 6 million people have died in the world due to Covid till the end of 2021 as per official reports. But, in a new study, researchers indicate that from the beginning of 2020 till the end of 2021, at least 18 million more deaths have occurred than the researchers would typically expect in the course of two years.

Some of these excess deaths may not have been included in the official figures due to lack of diagnostic or reporting resources.

The other reasons may include behaviour changes during lockdowns, economic turmoil, lack of access to healthcare, etc. There was not enough data to distinguish the cause of death as well.

The study found Russia, Brazil, Mexico, the US, Indonesia and Pakistan are among countries that accounted for more than half of all excess deaths in two years. There were more than 1.1 million in the United States.

Haidong Wang, demography specialist, University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said that excess mortality is "a much more accurate measurement of the true impact of the pandemic" precisely because of the known issues in under-reporting of direct Covid deaths and because of the deadly indirect effects of the pandemic.

The researchers, who were led by Wang, analysed all-cause mortality in 187 countries, with the help of weekly or monthly reported data when available and creating models to estimate for others. The study was published in the journal ‘The Lancet’ on Thursday.

(With inputs from agencies)