Deaths from Covid-19 are undercounted, WHO says
“Some of that excess mortality is probably Covid disease that was not recognized or reported”
The World Health Organization said it is clear: Covid-19 deaths are likely undercounted at this time.
"What we do know very, very clearly, is that there has been more mortality during this period then the numbers from Covid-19 alone tell us," Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the director-general at WHO, said during a Friday briefing, reports the CNN.
"That's extremely important," Aylward added.
"Some of that excess mortality is probably Covid disease that was not recognized or reported."
Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist, said it's still too early to make absolute conclusions, "but I think it is important to recognize that deaths from Covid are likely to be undercounted at the present time."
Van Kerkhove said there are deaths "that we know are associated with Covid-19 from infection and are tracked in real time, as they occur." And then then are deaths that will be "identified as we retrospectively look [back]," she said.
