The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 15 million people have been killed by the coronavirus or its impact on health systems overwhelmed by the pandemic in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of 6 million. Most of the deaths occurred in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.
In a report released today, the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesushe stressed that the figure is “sobering” and should push countries to invest more in their abilities to deal with future health emergencies.
Scientists commissioned by WHO to calculate the actual number of deaths from COVID-19 between January 2020 and the end of last year estimated that there were between 13.3 million and 16.6 million deaths caused directly by the coronavirus or in somehow attributed to the impact of the pandemic on health systems, such as people with cancer who were unable to seek treatment because hospitals were full of Covid patients.
The figures are based on data reported by country and statistical models.