WHO says Russia, India and Indonesia face more deaths than the United States:

According to the estimates of the World Health Organization, America did not suffer the most pandemic deaths in the world.

With Johns Hopkins University figures hovering around 996,000 on Thursday, the US is expected to be the first country to pass the dire milestone of more than a million deaths from Covid in the coming days.

But in the most comprehensive look at the death toll from the pandemic to date, statisticians suggest that three other countries – Russia, India and Indonesia – are already suffering more deaths.

They said the United States recorded 932,000 additional deaths from Covid and health disruptions in 2020 and 2021.

This was lower than the number in India (4 million), Russia (1.07 million) and Indonesia (1.02 million).

The chart above shows the number of confirmed deaths from Covid worldwide. It reveals that the United States is on the verge of one million deaths in most countries, but the numbers are skewed due to a lack of testing in other countries, leaving many victims of the virus unregistered. Chart shows countries with the five highest languages ​​of Covid death

For the report released Thursday, WHO analysts looked at the additional deaths in 149 countries, or the higher-than-expected number for the time of year, from all causes.

This is widely accepted as a better measure of the impact of the pandemic, as it takes into account the pressure on the health system and the lack of testing.

The WHO said the excess deaths could be attributed to Covid, or that disruptions in health care are preventing people with other conditions, such as heart disease, from accessing life-saving care.

The report did not take into account 2022 and the impact of the Omicron wave during the Christmas holiday period.

Data compiled by OurWorldinData shows that the United States has already registered 996,000 deaths from Covid, the highest number in the world.

Experts blame the country’s high toll for the lack of political leadership at the start of the pandemic.

They add that the difficulty in accessing health care and the poor health of the population also contribute to the figure.

However, the size of the country, with a population of over 329 million, also explains its top position.

To equate population-related differences, the data also assumed deaths per 100,000 inhabitants to allow comparison between countries.

This showed the United States to be ranked 40th worldwide with an additional 140 deaths per 100,000 people.

The country with the highest death rate was Peru (437), followed by Bulgaria (415) and Bolivia (375).

At the other end of the scale were the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis (-194), as well as Grenada (-118) and Palau (-111).

The WHO report also revealed today that the true worldwide death rate of Covid is almost three times the official figure.

In the most comprehensive look at the number of deaths to date from the pandemic, WHO estimates that around 15 million deaths were recorded from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2021.

The UN agency’s tally, missing for all of 2022, includes people who have died directly as a result of Covid or the impact of the virus on overwhelmed health systems.

By comparison, the current official death toll from the virus is 6.2 million, with a third of that in the United States, Brazil and India.

The WHO said 20 countries, including the UK and the US, were responsible for more than 80% of the estimated “excess deaths” in the first two years of the pandemic.

This chart shows the cumulative additional deaths between 2020 and 2021 in the four countries with the highest number of additional deaths. If a country has fewer deaths than expected at that time of the year, these numbers may even drop below zero.

Peru recorded more deaths than its population, with 437 more deaths per 100,000 people than expected. The United States had the 40th highest death rate (140 per 100,000), while England ranked 56th (109 per 100,000).

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the “sobering” numbers should push countries to invest in more resilient healthcare systems to mitigate future crises.

Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health, said the WHO analysis “could be just a bean counting study.”

“But having these WHO numbers is crucial for continuing to respond to and how to tackle future outbreaks,” he said.