Posted on 08/04/21
| News Source: i24
The official global Covid-19 death toll of around 4.22 million people is short by around 1 million fatalities, research by the Hebrew University suggests.
Inaccuracies in some countries and deliberate underreporting in others have combined to downplay the true figure, researchers said.
While this assertion is not unique, the work of economist Dr. Ariel Karlinsky and statistician Dr. Dmitry Kobak is the first time the theory has been peer-reviewed, The Times of Israel (ToI) reported.
The research examined excess deaths during the pandemic, compared to normal years, in around half the countries in the world.
The estimate of more than 1 million unreported COVID deaths is based on the 103 countries studied, and is likely to rise as additional nations’ data is included in the research, ToI reported.
Researchers noted that underreporting is higher in authoritarian countries where dictators are often inclined to suppress information about government failures.