PERU, Lima, (TeleSUR) – On Wednesday, Peru became the country with the highest mortality rate from COVID-19, after Belgium corrected its death toll from the new coronavirus.
The rectification of the Belgian authorities made Peru hold that world record now, a figure that is not surprising since the outbreak is far from being controlled.
In Peru, 28,124 deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 virus are equivalent to 85.8 deaths per 100,000 people. This results from dividing the number of deaths by its national population (32.6 million citizens), as the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) explained.
So far, over 65,000 deaths have been registered since the beginning of the pandemic compared to previous years. Since last March, deaths nationwide have increased by 120 percent over the past two years.
Meanwhile, the new coronavirus death toll in Belgium stood at 85.5 per 100,000 people, registering 9,878 deaths in a population of just over 11.5 million citizens.
While the US is the country with the highest number of deaths (183,714), its mortality rate is around 54 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure that is lower than Peru’s one.
The same situation occurs in Brazil. This country ranks second in the world’s death toll, registering 116,000 deaths in a population of 210.1 million people, which is equivalent to 55 deaths per 100,000 citizens.