Err...these numbers came from the World Health Organization. Ergo take with a huge grain of salt. It does look like India has gotten hit very hard!
BTW: Below are current daily case #s for the US (CDC).
Current death figures for the US (CDC).
And reported deaths by country (UN Geoscheme data)
Apparently India is fudging it's reported data a "little"
WHO Says 15 Million Have Died From Pandemic, With Highest Toll in India
Report estimates that 4.7 million people died in India by the end of last year—around 10 times the official tally at the time
India has suffered the highest death toll related to the pandemic of any country in the world, according to a new report.
By Shan Li and Vibhuti Agarwal, WSJ
Updated May. 5, 2022 4:06 pm ET
NEW DELHI—The World Health Organization estimated that nearly 15 million people had died from causes related to the coronavirus pandemic by the end of 2021, putting the toll from Covid-19 at nearly three times the number that had been officially recorded by countries.
India suffered the highest toll of any country in the world, according to the report released Thursday, but most of the deaths have gone unrecorded. The 4.7 million people who had died in India by the end of last year, according to WHO estimates, was nearly 10 times the official tally at that time of 481,000 deaths. India’s count has risen to about 524,000 since then.
The report, which was compiled by scientists from around the world, has sparked fierce resistance from India, where government officials have denounced the health agency’s methodology and objected to the release of the report.
“Despite India’s objection to the process, methodology and outcome of this modeling exercise, WHO has released the excess mortality estimates without adequately addressing India’s concerns,” India’s health ministry said Thursday.
The report put India’s toll for the pandemic far higher than other countries. Russia was the next highest with nearly 1.1 million deaths, according to the report, followed by Indonesia at over one million and the U.S. at more than 930,000. India has more than 1.3 billion people, and health experts say many people in the country didn’t get tested for Covid-19 and died at home, particularly during a devastating Delta wave last year.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the scientific understanding of its transmission and prevention has evolved. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains what strategies have worked for stemming the spread of the virus and which are outdated in 2022. Illustration: Adele Morgan
The WHO estimated that excess deaths in the Africa region over the same period were 1.25 million, five times more than the official figure. Three African countries—Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa—were among the top 20 countries that account for more than 80% of the estimated global excess mortality, the WHO added.
The new figures come as official data on the continent continue to show extremely low death rates, but evidence of higher tallies has begun to emerge.
In Tanzania, where former President John Magufuli denied that Covid-19 existed before dying suddenly in March 2021, some burial sites have tripled in size since 2020.
At the main morgue in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, a third of the total deceased people tested positive for Covid-19. In Kenya, obituary announcements more than doubled during last year, as the country battled a surge in infections. All nations have some of the world’s lowest official death rates.
Across Africa, a deficit of Covid-19 testing and creaking medical infrastructure have made it harder to determine the true extent of the pandemic. Official figures show Africa has registered only 11.4 million cases of Covid-19, with 252,158 deaths across a continent of 1.3 billion people, according to the African Union.
Countries such as Tanzania refused to collect data on the virus. Others, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, say the official death toll from Covid-19 is 1,300, though fewer than 500,000 tests have been conducted on the country’s 90 million people. Altogether, only 105 million Covid-19 tests have been conducted in Africa.
Dr. John Nkengasong, director of Africa CDC, believes that the deficit of testing and inadequate healthcare infrastructure masked Covid-19’s true toll on the continent. “We believe that many people died from other diseases such as heart conditions, because they could not access hospitals during the lockdowns,” he said.