Eighteen months into the Covid-19 pandemic, we don’t know exactly how many people have died. A true global tally is not just overdue. It’s vital.

The task is a Herculean one, given that so much of the world struggles to record basic information about deaths even in normal times. But without a better grasp of the toll, we will strain to assess the precise, real-world impact of vaccines and other preventative measures, or to understand just how lethal variants have been.

Considering excess mortality — a measure that includes all fatalities above what would be expected in normal conditions, based on historic trends — gets around some of those issues and is arguably a better metric for the overall loss, capturing deaths from mental health strain, drug abuse, or illnesses left undiagnosed while hospitals were overwhelmed. It just isn’t necessarily any easier to track

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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/why-the-world-needs-to-count-the-pandemics-invisible-deaths/articleshow/84915120.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst