Ten countries with the worst Covid death rates as global toll hits 6 million

The death toll from Covid has crossed 6 million, the latest tragic milestone as the pandemic enters its third year.

According to a tally compiled over the last four months by John Hopkins university, the number of deaths from Covid globally is 6,000,936 deaths and counting.

While many countries are now returning to ‘normal’ life by scrapping the requirement to wear face masks and lifting travel restrictions, the latest global death count is a devastating reminder that the pandemic is far from over.

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Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is testing its entire population of 7.5 million three times this month as it clings to mainland China’s ‘zero-Covid’ strategy.

Remote Pacific islands, long protected from the virus by their isolation, are just now grappling with their first outbreaks and deaths, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.

The current violence in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion has seen more than 1.7 million refugees flee to neighbouring European countries, and the impact that this will have on Covid infection rates, is yet to be seen.

Six million deaths equals to more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland, yet experts say the number is likely a vast undercount.

However, this figure is estimated to be much higher as it only includes deaths from the infection, and not from excess deaths related to the pandemic such as people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment due to overwhelmed hospitals. Further, poor record-keeping and testing means that some deaths have not been attributed to Covid.

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An analysis of excess deaths by The Economist estimates that the number of Covid deaths is between 14 million and 23.5 million.

Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the Our World in Data portal told AP: “Confirmed deaths represent a fraction of the true number of deaths due to COVID, mostly because of limited testing, and challenges in the attribution of the cause of death.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues that the pandemic is far from over, saying “the virus continues to evolve and the risk of future emergence of variants is high”.

From United States to France, here are the ten countries with the worst death tolls from Covid.

1. United States:

It is a country of 50 states and a population of approximately 334 million, so it may not come as a surprise that the US has the highest number of Covid fatalities by far - with a total of 958,437 deaths.

The country has seen a total of 79,265,726 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic began in 2020 and as it currently stands, 73.6 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.

2. Brazil:

With the second highest death toll in the world at 652,216, the country also has the highest proportion of deaths per 100,000 general population.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised for his response to the pandemic by never imposing a national lockdown, although the president did close its borders to neighbouring countries in March 2020.

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3. India:

India has the third highest death toll with 515,036 recorded fatalities since the pandemic began in 2020. The country suffered severely during the pandemic, experience three difficult waves which saw mass funeral pyres as crematoria were overwhelmed at the height of the crisis.

However, according to the Times of India, the third wave is now officially over as the weekly case numbers continue to decline as the country recorded 43,000 new cases, which is its lowest weekly count in 22 months.

4. Russia:

The country’s death toll falls at 348,467, but unlike the top three countries, Russia has seen an increase in its Covid death rate in the last month as the number of daily recorded deaths increased from 650 on February 6 to 729 on March 6.

However, the country’s death toll has significantly decreased since mid-November 2021 when it saw record figures of 2,967 deaths per day.

5. Mexico:

Mexico’s number of deaths is 319,604 but the country has the highest observed case-fatality ratio at 5.3 per cent, which means it has the highest number of death per 100 confirmed cases. The US in comparison - which has the highest number of deaths worldwide - has a much lower observed case-fatality ratio at 1.2 per cent.

However, due to little testing, government reports suggest the death toll could be higher by hundreds of thousands.

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6. Peru:

The number of confirmed deaths for Peru since the pandemic began in 2020 is 210,907.

About 74 per cent of the South American country’s population has been fully vaccinated as of March 5, while only 31.1 per cent have received their booster jab.

7. United Kingdom:

The number of Covid related deaths have hit 162,58 in the UK, which has seen a slight increase in the death rate from 75 deaths per day on February 6 to 100 as of this week.

The new “living with Covid” plan kicked in on February 2, which saw the end of the imposed self-isolation period for people who test positive with the virus, scrapping on contact tracing and the requirement to wear face masks in enclosed spaces. This measure has been met with controversy as many have welcomed the return to normality while others believe it is too soon to move on.

8. Italy:

Italy was one of the first countries to impose lockdown in 2020, and its total number of deaths has reached 155,782 as of this week.

After two years of the health crisis, Prime Minister Mario Draghi has promised a gradual return to normal as the Italian government will end the the Covid state of emergency on March 31.

9. Indonesia:

Indonesia’s death toll has reached 149,918 but the country’s death rate increased as the figure rose from 67 deaths per day a month ago to 254 this week.

Despite the increase, on Monday, Indonesia’s resort island Bali welcomed its first foreign tourists under relaxed coronavirus rules that no longer require arrivals to quarantine, part of a broader easing of curbs in the Southeast Asian country after infections declined.

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10. France:

France has suffered 140,264 deaths since the pandemic began, but the country has a low case-fatality rate at 0.6 per cent.

The country is now ready to scrap its domestic vaccine passport- as well as a number of measures including the scrapping of mandate to wear face masks indoors- from March 14, as announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex last week.