The COVID-19 pandemic was caused between 13.3 and 16.6 million deaths from January 2020 to December 2021, more than double the nearly 6 million deaths officially registered, according to World Health Organization (WHO) calculations released on Thursday.

These most anticipated numbers allow us to have a idea more faithful to the reality of the destructive effects of the worst pandemic the world has experienced in a century and it continues to cause thousands of deaths each week.

“New data from the World Health Organization shows that the total balance was directly or indirectly related to the COVID-19 pandemic between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 were 14.9 million dead (with a margin of between 13.3 and 16.6 million), ”the institution said in a statement.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the numbers of member countries compiled by the WHO gave a total of 5.4 million deaths of COVID-19 in these two years, but in the long run, the UN institution warns that these numbers are far from real.

“These numbers, which force us to reflect, not only underscore the impact of the pandemic, but the need for all countries to invest in stronger health systems that can sustain vital health services during crises, including a stronger health information system, ”said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

This excess mortality was calculated by making a difference between the number of actual deaths at that time and the number of deaths considered normal without a pandemicbased on current statistics.

The WHO launched its alert on COVID-19 on January 30, 2020, weeks after the first cases were identified in China.

This excess mortality includes deaths directly caused by disease and the causes indirectlydue to the blow that the pandemic has done to health systems and society in general.

Source: AFP