These highly anticipated figures give a more realistic idea of ​​the devastating effects of the worst pandemic in a century which, according to this data, has already killed 1 in 500 humans and continues to claim thousands of lives every week.

“The total death toll associated directly or indirectly with the Covid-19 pandemic between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 is approximately 14.9 million deaths (a range of 13.3 to 16.6 million)”, revealed the organization on Thursday.

Since the start of the pandemic, official figures from member countries compiled by the WHO come to a total of 5.4 million deaths over the same period, but the WHO has long warned that this statistic underestimates the reality.

The WHO said most of the excess deaths (84%) were concentrated in Southeast Asia, which in the WHO regional breakdown includes India, Europe (which includes Russia and other countries of the former USSR) and in the Americas.

Hospitals at times overwhelmed by Covid-19 as in Hong Kong on March 21, 2022 Peter PARKS AFP / Archives

Some 10 countries alone accounted for 68% of the total excess mortality, these are in descending order Brazil, Egypt, India - which strongly contests the WHO figures much higher than its official figures -, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.

Accounts

“These sobering data underscore not only the impact of the pandemic, but also the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems capable of sustaining essential health services during crises, including including stronger health information systems," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

In fact, the figures published Thursday by the WHO suffer from holes in the statistics, the collection of data being sometimes fragmented or even completely non-existent for certain countries.

The ranges given sometimes go from simple to double.

The Organization thus estimates that 6 out of 10 deaths are not recorded worldwide.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Fabrice COFFRINI AFP/Archives

Excess mortality is calculated by taking the difference between the actual number of deaths and the number of deaths estimated in the absence of a pandemic, based on existing statistics.

Excess mortality includes both deaths directly caused by the disease and those indirectly caused.

The indirect causes can be due in particular to overloaded health structures and forced, for example, to delay surgical procedures or chemotherapy sessions for cancer patients.

Sometimes, confinements have also avoided deaths, such as traffic accidents.

To understand

"Measuring excess mortality is an essential component for understanding the impact of the pandemic", explained Samira Asma, in charge of the file at the WHO.

Screening for Covid-19 in New Delhi, India on May 5, 2022 Prakash SINGH AFP

More reliable information allows decision makers to better prepare the ground to limit the impact of future crises.

"These new estimates are based on the best available data produced using a robust methodology and a completely transparent approach," she said.

It is this methodology that India disputes for which the Covid killed 525,000 people in total.

The figures published by the WHO on Thursday are 9 times higher at around 4.7 million.

In mid-April the Indian government had criticized "an undifferentiated approach and models that may work for smaller countries like Tunisia but are not applicable to India and its population of 1.3 billion".

The subject is extremely sensitive because of the political repercussions, these figures being indicators of the quality of the management of the crisis by the authorities.

© 2022 AFP