As COVID restrictions across the U.S. continue to relax, it’s worth taking stock of the devastation that the virus has caused across the world. Because of the long-term effects of COVID and faulty reporting by some governments, it turns out that global deaths from the pandemic might actually be up to three times higher than official reports, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet.
The analysis claims that up to 18.2 million people might have died from COVID by December 31, 2021, which is astronomically more than the 5.9 million deaths recorded by the World Health Organization. The researchers based their assessment on excess deaths, which is the difference between total deaths from year to year and the expected number of deaths based on previous, non-pandemic years. By looking at data from 11 years leading up to the pandemic, the researchers found that on average, excess deaths increased significantly in many countries, with some reporting as many as 300 more deaths than usual per 100,000 people.
