COVID-19 Toll Is Probably Three Times Higher Than Official Records – WHO Reveals

A large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries.

According to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT on Friday, the novel coronavirus has killed at least 4,070,508 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.

At least 188,872,770 cases of coronavirus have been registered. The vast majority have recovered, though some have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later.

The figures are based on daily reports provided by health authorities in each country.

They exclude revisions made by other statistical organisations, which show that the number of deaths is much higher.

The World Health Organization estimates that the pandemic’s overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19.

A large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries.

On Thursday, 8,472 new deaths and 540,008 new cases were recorded worldwide. Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Brazil with 1,548 new deaths, followed by Indonesia with 1,205 and Russia with 799.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 608,400 deaths from 33,975,711 cases. After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 538,942 deaths from 19,262,518 cases, India with 412,531 deaths from 31,026,829 cases, Mexico with 235,740 deaths from 2,629,648 cases, and Peru with 194,845 deaths from 2,088,143 cases.

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Peru with 591 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Hungary with 311, Bosnia-Herzegovina with 295, Czech Republic with 283, and Republic of North Macedonia with 263.

Latin America and the Caribbean overall has 1,323,376 deaths from 39,216,682 cases, Europe 1,184,890 deaths from 56,073,716 infections, and the United States and Canada 634,870 deaths from 35,397,827 cases.

Asia has reported 616,383 deaths from 42,201,463 cases, Africa 155,423 deaths from 6,112,262 cases, Middle East 154,375 deaths from 9,805,608 cases, and Oceania 1,191 deaths from 65,213 cases.

As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day’s tallies.