Peru adjusts for the number of COVID-19 deaths, currently the highest in the population Coronavirus pandemic News

Peru has announced a significant increase in its COVID-19 number of dead, Giving the South American nation the worst per capita coronavirus-related death rate in the world.

In an announcement at the presidential palace on Monday, the country said more than 180,000 people had died since the pandemic began – more than previous figures indicated that 69,342 Peruvians had died as a result of the coronavirus.

The new toll includes reported deaths between March 2020 and May 22 this year.

“What is being said is that a significant number of deaths were not classified as caused by COVID-19,” said Health Minister Oscar Ugarte, adding that the criteria for designating the new coronavirus as a cause of death have changed.

Ugarte said only those who had previously taken a “positive diagnostic test” had died as a result of the virus, but other criteria have been added.

Mateo Prochazka, one of the researchers in the working group commissioned to study and update the number of coronavirus deaths in Peru, said the team used four different methods to determine the cause of death.

“The first criterion is the one with the highest certainty, virological, in the case of people with a positive test. The second is a quick test, ”Prochazka said.

“We also used serology [tests] in fact, at the beginning of the pandemic this system was used a lot, ”he said.

“Then there are the radiological and epidemiological ones [tests], through which there is no evidence, but compatible symptoms are found, “he said.” We thought they should be taken into account. “

Most cases per capita

Only among Latin American countries Brazil and Mexico they reported a higher number of deaths from the disease than in Peru.

According to the population, however, the number of deaths per capita in Peru is currently the highest in the world and more than double that of Brazil, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Previously Hungary had the highest per capita coronavirus death rate of about 300,000 inhabitants. With an updated death toll, Peru has more than 500,000 deaths per 100,000 population.

People in the massive vaccination program for the elderly waiting to receive COVID-19 vaccines, Lima, Peru [File: Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters]

Questions about the number of deaths in Peru arose immediately after the pandemic began.

The cemetery scenes filled with new burials and the hospitals that bought the refrigerated containers suggested that the temporary wizards were much worse than what the official state showed.

“We believe it is our duty to make this updated information public,” Peruvian Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez said at a news conference Monday.

The updated numbers in Peru are in line with figures called “excessive deaths,” which measure the underestimations used by researchers in Peru and other countries.

Excess deaths are calculated by comparing the number of deaths over time and the time before the pandemic.

Dr. Julio Ponce, an epidemiologist based in Brazil, told Al Jazeera that total deaths are one of the ways to measure the amount of COVID-19 when evidence is not available.

“When you don’t have access to the tests, it doesn’t have to be positive and in the end you have to count the people who died from COVID, because obviously a lot of people won’t be counted,” Ponce said. .

He added that if a country cannot accurately count the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, it will not be able to control where the pandemic is heading.