Peru has announced a sharp increase in its COVID-19 death toll.

The increase has now officially made the nation the highest death rate per capita in the world.

An announcement from the presidential palace in the South American nation stated that the country has had more than 180,000 people had die since the start of the pandemic.

Those new statistics are up from previous data indicating that 69,342 Peruvians had died due to the coronavirus.

The South American nation has reported 180,000 had died since the start of the pandemic, which is up from previous data of around 69,000 deaths.

The nation’s health minister says that a significant number of deaths “were not classified as caused by COVID-19”.

He explained the criteria for assigning COVID-19 as a cause of death has since changed.