Covid pandemic killed between 13.3 and 16.6 million people in 2020 and 2021, WHO points out

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused between 13.3 and 16.6 million deaths from January 2020 to December 2021, that is, a number much higher than the officially recorded, according to WHO (World Health Organization) calculations. released this Thursday (5).

Long awaited, these numbers allow for a more accurate portrayal of the devastating effects of the worst pandemic experienced in the world for a century and which continues to leave thousands of deaths every week.

“New data from the World Health Organization shows that the total toll associated directly or indirectly with the Covid-19 pandemic between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 is 14.9 million deaths (with a margin of between 13.3 million and 16.6 million),” the institution said in a statement.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the numbers of member countries gathered by the WHO gave a total of 5.4 million deaths from Covid-19 in these two years. A long time ago, however, this UN institution warned that these numbers were far from corresponding to reality.

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

This excess mortality was calculated by making the difference between the number of real deaths in that period and the number of deaths considered normal without a pandemic, based on existing statistics.

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

This excess mortality includes deaths caused directly and indirectly by the disease, due to the burden imposed on health systems and society in general.