We are grateful to everyone whose editorial review and expert feedback on this work helps us to continuously improve our work on the pandemic. Thank you. Here you find the acknowledgements.
The data on the coronavirus pandemic is updated daily.
This page provides data on the number of confirmed deaths from COVID-19.
We know – based on reports and estimates of excess deaths – that these figures underestimate the total impact of the pandemic on mortality globally. We provide data on excess deaths across the world here:
Which world regions have the most daily confirmed deaths?
This chart shows the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths per day.
All three points are true for all currently available international data sources on COVID-19 deaths:
→ We provide more detail on these three points in the section ‘Deaths from COVID-19: background‘.
Which world regions have the most cumulative confirmed deaths?
The previous charts looked at the number of confirmed deaths per day – this chart shows the cumulative number of confirmed deaths since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By pulling the ends of the blue time slider you can focus the chart on a particular period. If you bring them together to one point in time then the line chart becomes a bar chart – this of course only makes sense if you compare countries (that is what the
Edit countries and regions button is for).
This chart shows the cumulative number of confirmed deaths per million people.
For all global data sources on the pandemic, daily data does not necessarily refer to deaths on that day – but to the deaths reported on that day.
Since reporting can vary significantly from day to day – irrespectively of any actual variation of deaths – it is helpful to look at changes from week to week. This provides a slightly clearer picture of where the pandemic is accelerating, slowing, or in fact reducing.
The maps shown here provide figures on weekly and biweekly deaths: one set shows the number of deaths per million people in the previous seven or fourteen days (the weekly or biweekly cumulative total); the other set shows the percentage change (growth rate) over these periods.
In this document, the many linked charts, our COVID-19 Data Explorer, and the Complete COVID-19 dataset, we report and visualize the data on confirmed cases and deaths from the World Health Organization (WHO). We make the data in our charts and tables downloadable as complete and structured CSV, XLSX, and JSON files on GitHub.
The WHO has published updates on confirmed cases and deaths on its dashboard for all countries since 31 December 2019. From 31 December 2019 to 21 March 2020, this data was sourced through official communications under the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005), complemented by publications on official ministries of health websites and social media accounts. Since 22 March 2020, the data has been compiled through WHO region-specific dashboards or direct reporting to WHO.
The WHO updates its data once per week.
The attribution of deaths to specific causes can be challenging under any circumstances. Health problems are often connected, and multiplicative, meaning an underlying condition can often lead to complications which ultimately result in death.
This is also true in the case of COVID-19: the disease can lead to other health problems such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
So, how are deaths from COVID-19 recorded? What is and isn’t included in these totals?
As is standard in death reporting, countries are asked to follow the ‘cause of death’ classifications from the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases guidelines. 2 However, countries also typically provide their own guidance to practitioners on how and when COVID-19 deaths should be recorded.
Let’s take a look at two concrete examples of national guidance: the United States and the UK. Both provide very similar guidelines for medical practitioners on the completion of death certificates. Here is the US CDC’s Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance; here is the UK Government guidance. 3
Both guidelines state that if the practitioner suspects that COVID-19 played a role in an individual’s death it should be specified on the death certificate. In some cases, COVID-19 may be the underlying cause of death, having led to complications such as pneumonia or ARDS. Even when it’s the underlying and not the direct cause, COVID-19 should be listed. 4
Although confirmed cases are reliant on a positive laboratory confirmation of the COVID-19 test, a laboratory diagnosis may not be required for it to be listed as the cause of death. In the UK guidelines, for example, it makes clear that practitioners should complete death certificates to the best of their knowledge, stating that “if before death the patient had symptoms typical of COVID-19 infection, but the test result has not been received, it would be satisfactory to give ‘COVID-19’ as the cause of death, and then share the test result when it becomes available. In the circumstances of there being no swab, it is satisfactory to apply clinical judgement.”
This means a positive COVID-19 test result is not required for a death to be registered as COVID-19. In some circumstances, depending on national guidelines, medical practitioners can record COVID-19 deaths if they think the signs and symptoms point towards this as the underlying cause.
The US CDC guidelines also make this clear with an example: the death of an 86-year-old female with an unconfirmed case of COVID–19. It was reported that the woman had typical COVID-19 symptoms five days prior to suffering an ischemic stroke at home. Despite not being tested for COVID-19, the coroner determined that the likely underlying cause of death was COVID–19 given her symptoms and exposure to an infected individual.
