Deaths directly or indirectly caused by the pandemic of COVID-19 would have been between twice and three times those reported officially, which would place between 6 and 8 million the number of deaths, compared to 3.4 million officially reported said this Friday the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the region of the Americas, the real number of deaths related to the disease would have been between 1.2 and 1.5 million in 2020, instead of the 900,000 reported, according to estimates made by WHO within the framework of the preparation of their World Health Statistics and which are largely based on mathematical modalizations.

“Direct deaths from covid-19 represent a fraction of the true impact the pandemic has had ,” said WHO data analyst William Msemburi .

The estimate has been made mainly taking into account the total number of deaths that could have been expected based on the evolution of mortality observed in previous years, which was altered by the pandemic, he explained. “The reports offer an incomplete picture of the situation, not least because many people died before passing a COVID test,” he added.

It is certain that many people died from the impact of the pandemic on health systems, which had to interrupt treatments for chronically ill patients and limit patient care as much as possible, while the emergency of the coronavirus prevented or prevented others from attending. to hospitals. In this regard, the WHO reports that 90% of countries reported interruptions in essential health services.

In Europe, deaths would have been between 1.1 and 1.2 million, that is, double the 600,000 reported deaths .