Total COVID-19 deaths at least two to three times higher than officially reported: WHO official

As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, World Health Organization's(WHO) assistant director-general Samira Asma said worldwide death toll "would truly be two to three times higher".

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"So I think safely about 6 to 8 million deaths could be an estimate on a cautionary note," Asma said, adding,"the total deaths are at least two to three times higher than officially reported.” 

"This aligns with similar estimates which all predict that the total deaths are at least two to three times higher than officially reported," the top WHO official added.

The World Health Organization is set to organize the 74th World Health Assembly next week amid the pandemic even as several member states are battling the virus with some countries in lockdown.

"Preliminary estimates for global excess deaths attributable to COVID-19 for 2020 stands at three million, which is 1.2 million more than official figures that were reported until December 2020," Asma said while stating that, "most countries do well in registering births, only 40 per cent of the world's nations register at least 90 per cent of deaths that occur."  

Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom said that 13,000 people around the world lost their lives to coronavirus which is "9 every single minute." 

"People will continue to die as long as the global disparity in vaccines persists," the WHO chief said.

According to Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource centre the total worldwide death toll due to the virus currently stands at over 3,432,517 million including 165,622,040 fatalities.

The US has been the hardest-hit country due to the virus with over 33 million cases and 588,548 deaths.