15m people killed by Covid, overburdened health systems: WHO

Geneva, May 5 (EFE).- The Covid-19 pandemic has caused nearly 15 million deaths worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.

The total of 14.9 million deaths – which includes fatalities directly or indirectly linked to coronavirus – is more than double the official Covid-19 toll of 6.24 million.

The remainder corresponds to deaths that were caused by Covid but not reported as such, as well as those caused by other diseases or ailments that went untreated because health systems were overwhelmed during the acute phase of the pandemic.

The WHO has called this calculation “excess mortality”, which measures the difference between the deaths that were recorded in the two-year period between 2019 and 2021 and those that could have been expected if the pandemic had not occurred.

“These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said in a statement. EFE

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