A new analysis estimates that the number of people who died from COVID-19 globally, as well as in the U.S., is significantly higher than official death tolls. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a health research center affiliated with the University of Washington, estimates that 905,289 people in the U.S. died from COVID-19, compared to the official tally of 574,043, as of May 3. India is estimated to have had around 640,000 deaths, which is nearly three times more than the official number of 221,181. And, worldwide, the IHME’s analysis puts the number of COVID-19 deaths at 6.93 million, which more than twice as many deaths (3.24 million) that have been officially reported. There are two main reasons why IHME believes that death rates are higher: there was a lack of adequate testing in the earliest days of the pandemic that would have confirmed infections, and there are discrepancies between reported deaths by governments and excess mortality rates.
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