The World Health Organisation has given a grim insight into the full scale of devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, with almost 15 million excess deaths associated with the virus up until the end of 2021

In what is the most comprehensive look into deaths associated with the pandemic so-far… the mortality figures include both people who died of COVID-19 and those who died as an indirect result of the disease.

The tally also accounts for lives that were “saved” during the pandemic’s peak, due to factors such as lower risk of traffic accidents during lockdowns.

The death toll of 15 million comes as a result of high mortality rates in poorer nations previously not accounted for.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the WHO says six in 10 deaths around the world are not registered.

The top health body says most of the unreported Covid deaths came from India, suggesting 4.7 million people died in the nation as a result of the pandemic, with a major surge between May and June 2021.

The Indian government continues to report the nation’s death toll at around 480,000.