Peru probes whether 27,253 coronavirus deaths uncounted

Peruvian authorities and the Pan American Health Organization are investigating whether the country failed to count 27,253 deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, a figure that could more than double the country's official death toll from COVID-19.

Peru already has one of the world's highest tolls from the disease. If a large number of the suspected cases are confirmed, Peru's death toll could surpass those of larger countries such as Spain, France and Italy.

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A doctor tends to a patient inside the intensive care unit for COVID-19 cases at the Alberto Sabogal Hospital in Lima, Peru, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

Peruvian authorities and the Pan American Health Organization are investigating whether the country failed to count 27,253 deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, a figure that could more than double the country's official death toll from COVID-19.

Cinderblock homes fill the El Agustino shantytown as the financial district of San Isidro stands behind in Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 30, 2020. Peru was the first country in Latin America to impose a widespread quarantine on March 16 to curb the spread of COVID-19. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

She said that Peru had only listed 19,021 victims as dying from COVID-19 because international standards required both a death certificate listing coronavirus and a positive test for the disease in order for a death to be included in official statistics.

Funeral workers lift a coffin containing a body to be taken to the crematorium at El Angel cemetery in the section dedicated to COVID-19 victims in Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 23, 2020. All the other coffins also hold bodies to be cremated. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

The nation of some 32 million people onfirmed its first case of coronavirus on March 19 and conducted very little coronavirus testing in the first few months of the epidemic. It was the first country to impose a near-total quarantine requiring citizens to remain at home, but many were unable to comply because of poverty and dependence on informal jobs that required them to work illicitly during months of quarantine.

A man wearing a mask to curb the spread of the new coronavirus prepares to eat breakfast on a street in downtown Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (AP PhotoRodrigo Abd)

With public pressure mounting, Peru has slowly become more flexible in its counting of the dead, adding 4,000 to its death toll last week.,

Commuters wearing protective face masks and face shields wait to enter a train station in Lima, Peru, Saturday, July 25, 2020. Peru ordered the mandatory wearing of protective face masks and shields on public transportation amid the new coronavirus pandemic.(AP PhotoRodrigo Abd)

Relatives attend the cremation of Arnulfo Chulle at the El Angel cemetery, where a cemetery official confirmed the deceased person died of COVID-19, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 23, 2020. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

Victoria Melgar, 92, gets a flu shot in the El Agustino neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 30, 2020. In the middle of winter, medical personnel visited one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods to vaccinate against influenza. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

Workers carry a newly-made coffin at a factory in the Juan de Lurigancho neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Saturday, July 4, 2020. Peru has reported one of the world’s highest number of COVID-19 cases enforcing a strict stay-at-home order for three months but the measures failed to prevent the outbreaks. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

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Peruvian authorities and the Pan American Health Organization are investigating whether the country failed to count 27,253 deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, a figure that could more than double the country's official death toll from COVID-19.

She said that Peru had only listed 19,021 victims as dying from COVID-19 because international standards required both a death certificate listing coronavirus and a positive test for the disease in order for a death to be included in official statistics.

The nation of some 32 million people onfirmed its first case of coronavirus on March 19 and conducted very little coronavirus testing in the first few months of the epidemic. It was the first country to impose a near-total quarantine requiring citizens to remain at home, but many were unable to comply because of poverty and dependence on informal jobs that required them to work illicitly during months of quarantine.

With public pressure mounting, Peru has slowly become more flexible in its counting of the dead, adding 4,000 to its death toll last week.,

Commuters wearing protective face masks and face shields wait to enter a train station in Lima, Peru, Saturday, July 25, 2020. Peru ordered the mandatory wearing of protective face masks and shields on public transportation amid the new coronavirus pandemic.(AP PhotoRodrigo Abd)

Relatives attend the cremation of Arnulfo Chulle at the El Angel cemetery, where a cemetery official confirmed the deceased person died of COVID-19, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 23, 2020. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

Victoria Melgar, 92, gets a flu shot in the El Agustino neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 30, 2020. In the middle of winter, medical personnel visited one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods to vaccinate against influenza. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

Workers carry a newly-made coffin at a factory in the Juan de Lurigancho neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Saturday, July 4, 2020. Peru has reported one of the world’s highest number of COVID-19 cases enforcing a strict stay-at-home order for three months but the measures failed to prevent the outbreaks. (AP PhotoMartin Mejia)

Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti announced Thursday night that thousands of death certificates list COVID-19 as one of several causes of death, but they were not included in the country's official toll because the victims did not undergo a coronavirus test before dying.

She said that Peru had only listed 19,021 victims as dying from COVID-19 because international standards required both a death certificate listing coronavirus and a positive test for the disease in order for a death to be included in official statistics.

She described the new review as part of an ongoing process of updating and verifying the country's death statistics, but analysts said it appeared the government was responding to increasing public skepticism of the country's figures on the disease.

Many Latin American countries are grappling with alleged undercounts of their coronavirus death tolls, but Peru's more than 27,000 possibly uncounted deaths appears to be one of the highest.

The nation of some 32 million people onfirmed its first case of coronavirus on March 19 and conducted very little coronavirus testing in the first few months of the epidemic. It was the first country to impose a near-total quarantine requiring citizens to remain at home, but many were unable to comply because of poverty and dependence on informal jobs that required them to work illicitly during months of quarantine.

Intensive-care units and funeral services throughout the country are overwhelmed, and the country has seen one of the world's worst recessions this year.

Opposition politicians have accused Presidente Martín Vizcarra of deliberately hiding the true toll of the disease in Peru, a charge he has rejected. He said last week that the arrival of the disease was "so abrupt that it generated chaos'' and imprecise counting of the death toll.

With public pressure mounting, Peru has slowly become more flexible in its counting of the dead, adding 4,000 to its death toll last week.,