Covid-19 death toll nearly three times higher than official count: WHO
New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an estimated 22.1 million additional deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2023, almost three times more than the seven million Covid deaths officially reported worldwide, according to the World Health Statistics 2026 report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).The WHO said the pandemic could wipe out nearly a decade of gains in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy globally by 2021, describing it as a “setback of historic proportions” for global health systems.According to the report, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years between 2019 and 2021, while healthy life expectancy fell by 1.5 years over the same period, marking the sharpest change in recent decades.The report states that excess mortality is set to peak in 2021 with 10.4 million excess deaths worldwide as healthcare systems are under severe strain. Excess deaths are expected to decline to 4.9 million in 2022 and 3.3 million in 2023, although the WHO warns that recovery remains uneven and many countries have yet to return to pre-pandemic health trajectories.WHO defines deaths as more deaths than would normally be expected in a given period of time, including both direct Covid deaths and indirect deaths due to disruption of health care services and delays in treatment.The report found that men were disproportionately affected, with age-standardized excess mortality rates nearly 50% higher among men than among women at the peak of the epidemic in 2021. Older adults faced the highest mortality burden, particularly those over 85 years of age.WHO also highlighted major weaknesses in global mortality surveillance during the pandemic. Of the estimated 61 million deaths worldwide in 2023, only about 21 million were officially reported to WHO with cause-of-death data, while only 12 million had clinically certified ICD-coded death data.The agency said the pandemic has severely disrupted essential health services worldwide, including immunization programs, tuberculosis and HIV services, and treatment for non-communicable diseases, contributing significantly to indirect deaths during the period.The WHO had earlier estimated in a separate 2022 analysis that India was responsible for about 4.74 million additional deaths by 2020-21, a figure disputed by the Indian government.The report also warns of slowing progress towards universal health coverage, rising healthcare-related poverty and reduced global health funding following the pandemic.
