Peru announces a substantial increase in its COVID-19 death toll, Making South American countries have the highest per capita death rates related to coronavirus in the world.

In an announcement issued by the Presidential Palace on Monday, the country stated that more than 180,000 people have died since the beginning of the pandemic, which is higher than the previous figure, which shows that 69,342 Peruvians have died from the coronavirus.

The new death toll includes the death toll reported between March 2020 and May 22 this year.

Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said: “What people say is that a large number of deaths are not classified as caused by COVID-19,” he added, adding that the criteria for identifying the new coronavirus as the cause of death have changed.

Ugart said that previously only those who “tested positive for the diagnosis” were considered to have died of the virus, but other criteria were added later.

Mateo Prochazka, one of the researchers commissioned to analyze and update the Peruvian coronavirus death toll, said the team used four different methods to determine the cause of death.

“For people who test positive, the first criterion is the most definite criterion, namely the virological criterion. The second is a rapid test,” Prochazka reportedly said.

“We also used serology [tests] Because, at the beginning of the pandemic, this system was used a lot,” he said.

“Then radiology and epidemiology [tests], Through it there was no evidence, but compatible symptoms were found,” he said. “We think they should be taken into account. “

Maximum number of cases per capita

Among the Latin American countries, only Brazil with Mexico According to reports, the overall death toll from the disease is higher than in Peru.

However, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, in terms of population, Peru’s per capita death toll is now the highest in the world and more than twice that of Brazil.

Hungary had the highest per capita death rate from the coronavirus, at about 300 per 100,000. With the latest death toll, Peru now has more than 500 deaths per 100,000 people.

People waiting to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Elderly Mass Vaccination Program in Lima, Peru [File: Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters]

Soon after the pandemic began, questions about the death toll in Peru surfaced.

The cemetery is filled with new tombs and the hospital buying refrigerated containers as temporary morgues shows that the situation is far worse than official statistics show.

Peruvian Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez (Violeta Bermudez) said at a press conference on Monday: “We believe that we have a responsibility to disclose this latest information.”

Peru’s latest figure is consistent with the so-called “excess death” figure, which researchers have used in Peru and other countries to measure possible underestimation.

Calculate the number of excess deaths by comparing the total number of deaths in a period of time with the total number of deaths in the same period before the pandemic.

Brazilian epidemiologist Dr. Julio Ponce told Al Jazeera that when testing is not possible, the total number of excess deaths is one of the ways to measure the number of COVID-19 deaths.

Ponce said: “When you are unable to get tested, you should not just count the number of people who tested positive and eventually died of COVID, because of course, many people won’t be counted in these numbers.”

He added that if a country cannot accurately calculate the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, they will not be able to track where the pandemic will go next.