The death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic since Thursday is approaching 2 million. The real measure is much worse.
More than 2.8 million people have lost their lives to the pandemic, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from 59 countries and jurisdictions. This issue provides the most comprehensive picture of the global impact of the pandemic. Deaths in these places last year rose by more than 12% above average.
Less than two-thirds of that increase was directly attributed to Covid-19. Public health experts believe that many, if not most, of the additional deaths were directly related to the disease, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, when tests were rare. Some of these excess deaths have resulted from indirect failures, health care interruptions, hospital avoidance and other problems.
To better understand the overall value of the pandemic, the Journal compiled the latest available data on deaths from all causes in countries with available records. These countries together account for about a quarter of the world’s population, but about three-quarters of all reported deaths from Covid-19 by the end of last year.
The story found more than 821,000 additional deaths, which are not considered in the official death toll from Covid-19 governments.