Covid-19 death toll is even worse than it looks

The number of deaths recorded from the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday is close to 2 million. The real extent 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 tally offers the most comprehensive view to date of the global impact of the pandemic. Deaths in these places last year rose more than 12% above average levels.

Less than two-thirds of this increase has been attributed directly to Covid-19. Public health experts believe most, if not most, of the additional deaths were directly linked to the disease, especially at the start of the pandemic when testing was scarce. Some of those excess deaths were from spinoffs, disruptions to healthcare, people avoiding hospital and other issues.

To better understand the global toll of the pandemic, the Journal compiled the most recent data available on deaths from all causes in countries with registries. Together, these countries make up about a quarter of the world’s population, but about three quarters of all reported deaths from Covid-19 through the end of last year.

The tally revealed more than 821,000 additional deaths that are not factored into official government Covid-19 tally.