Peru updates COVID-19 death toll to staggering 180,764

BOGOTA, Colombia

The COVID-19 death toll in Peru has been updated to 180,764, much higher than the official figure.

A report submitted to the Presidency on Monday by a group of scientists, who were assigned to determine the number of people who lost their lives by COVID-19 in the country, stated that the number of deaths due to the pandemic was three times higher than the announced.

In its earlier statement, the Health Ministry had announced the death toll as 69,342, while the number of cases was 1.95 million.

A total of 111,422 deaths were added to the death toll as suggested by the report.

On the issue, Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said thousands of deaths were not considered as virus deaths and added: “Before, only those who tested positive (for COVID-19) were being registered as COVID-19 deaths.”

*Writing by Sena Guler