4 May 2020updated 06 Oct 2020 9:45am

Death toll in Italy much higher than previously thought

TOPSHOT - A man walks past a large billboard raising awareness to the measures taken by the Italian government to fight against the spread of the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) which pictures a woman wearing Italy's national flag as a facemask for protective measures and reads "All together, without fear", in the streets of Naples on March 22, 2020. - Italian Prime Minister, on March 21, ordered all non-essential companies and factories to close nationwide to stem a coronavirus pandemic that has killed 4,825 people in the country in a month. (Photo by Carlo Hermann / AFP) (Photo by CARLO HERMANN/AFP via Getty Images)

The death toll in Italy from the coronvirus pandemic is double previously thought, according to the Italian stastitics bureau (ISTAT). They looked at the number of deaths compared to the average over the previous five years and found 11, 600 unexplained deaths compared to 13, 710 officially attributed to COVID19. ISTAT said it was likely these unexplained deaths were likely to be both directly as a result of an undiagnosed coronavirus infection, and indirectly caused by the pressure on the Italian healthcare system. The pattern of these deaths mirrored the impact of the coronavirus, concentrated on northern Italy. The finding raise the disturbing possibility that the death tolls in other badly-hit countries could also be considerably higher.