COVID death tolls: scientists acknowledge errors in WHO estimates

Scientists working with the World Health Organization (WHO) have corrected some surprising errors in its estimates of how many deaths the pandemic has caused, after a flurry of questions about the original WHO report, issued in early May.

In a revision to a technical paper on their methods, researchers cut Germany’s pandemic-related deaths estimate by 37%, pulling its excess death rate below those of the United Kingdom and Spain1. They also raised their estimate for Sweden by 19% (see ‘Corrected estimates of pandemic death rates’).