Peru reports COVID-19 death toll is over 180,000 - (A)

Peru announced a sharp increase in its COVID-19 death toll, saying there have been more than 180,000 fatalities since the pandemic hit the country early last year.

The announcement was made in the presidential palace during the presentation of a report by a working group commissioned to analyze and update the death toll. The results of the study put the new toll at 180,764 in a population of about 32.6 million, compared to recent data indicating that 69,342 people had died from COVID-19.

Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said the criteria for assigning the new coronavirus as a cause of death were changed. Previously, only those who had a positive diagnostic test were considered to have died from the virus, but other criteria have since been incorporated.

The new toll from COVID-19 includes deaths reported between March 2020 and May 22 of this year. Among Latin American countries, only Brazil and Mexico have reported higher death tolls from the disease.

On Monday, the coronavirus monitoring site of Johns Hopkins University was reflecting the previous figure of just under 70,000 deaths in Peru. Questions about Perus death toll surfaced soon after the beginning of the pandemic.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)