The death toll from COVID-19 is more than double the estimates: study | Coronavirus pandemic News

The Institute for Health Metrics and Assessment said the pandemic caused nearly 6.9 million deaths, far more than the 3.25 million reported.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly 6.9 million deaths worldwide, more than double the number officially recorded, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Assessment (IHME) at the University of Washington (DC).

Deaths have not been reported in hospitals in most countries or are only reported in the case of patients with a confirmed infection, a report released on Thursday revealed.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, current estimates show more than 155 million infections worldwide with at least 3.25 million deaths.

IHME is an independent health research organization that provides a comparable measure of global health problems and has been mentioned by the White House in the past and its reports are well reviewed by public health officials.

The IHME said the COVID-19 death rate is closely linked to the levels of testing in a country.

“If you don’t test it very much, you are likely to lose COVID deaths,” Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said in a call with reporters.

The IHME calculated the total death of COVID-19 by comparing the predicted deaths from all causes based on previous pandemic trends to the actual number of deaths caused during the pandemic.

In the United States, the analysis estimated more than 905,000 deaths associated with COVID-19. According to official data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 575,491 deaths were estimated as a result of the new coronavirus.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request from the Reuters news agency to comment on the report.

The report only covers deaths directly caused by the virus, not deaths caused by pandemics in health systems and communities.

“Many countries have made an extraordinary effort to measure the pandemic toll, but our analysis shows how difficult it is to accurately track new and rapidly spreading infectious diseases,” Murray said.

Meanwhile, more than 400,000 coronavirus infections were reported in India on Thursday within 24 hours, bringing the death toll from the virus to 3,980.

The South Asian nation has more than 21 million cases, with 412,262 new infections registered. According to data from the Ministry of Health, the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 230,168.

Interviews with doctors and village leaders those involved in counting the deaths from the pandemic, however, have revealed that the actual death toll could be much higher than the official count.