India, May 15 -- Five years ago, during this time, the COVID-19 pandemic was at its deadliest with the Delta variant laying its death trap. While people have stopped counting the dead, the question remains: How many people died in the pandemic?

On May 13, 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the "World Health Statistics 2026". Inside it lies buried an update on the human toll of the pandemic.

Till now seven million deaths were attributed to COVID-19. Using the excess death data, and improved methodology to estimate, the WHO annual report says, "From 2020 to 2023, global excess deaths from all causes were estimated at 22.1 million, compared with 7.0 million reported COVID-19 deaths. This implies that for every reported COVI...