It was in late 2019 that the first case of Covid infection was reported in China. Soon, the virus spread like a wildfire all across the globe and finally emerged as a global pandemic. Since then, the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 55 million people worldwide. However, a new research report published in Nature suggests that this official figure on the number of deaths could be way lower than the actual number of people who lost their lives after battling the pandemic.
Covid deaths could be higher than official figures
The research report made use of a machine learning approach used by The Economist magazine in London and found that there were so many issues with the collection of data, which ultimately resulted in miscalculations of deaths.
According to the research report, actual fatalities due to Covid could be two to four times more than the official data released by governments.
Citing an example, the research report noted that the Netherlands, during the early months of the pandemic only counted those patients who died in the hospital after getting infected. In a similar manner, China, which is considered the initial hotbed of Covid has reported only 4,600 deaths until now. According to researchers, the actual number of Covid-related deaths in China could be over 7,50,000.
Five million deaths in India
The report also shed startling details about the number of deaths in India. According to government sources, nearly 5,00,000 have already succumbed to the virus. However, the Economist Model suggests that five million people could have died in the country.
The research report suggests that the actual fatalities can be up to 20 times higher than the current figures in poor countries. The report also noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) will soon release its estimates regarding actual Covid-related deaths.
