The world will see 5.3 million reported deaths and 12 million excess fatalities by December as the delta variant drives a surge in Covid-19 cases, according to projections by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The U.S.-based institute expects deaths to peak at the beginning of September then slowly decline afterward, it said in a report published Friday. The IHME’s forecasts distinguish between officially reported Covid-19 deaths and excess deaths attributed to the illness including unreported fatalities.
There have been almost 4.3 million deaths from Covid-19 globally since the start of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.