Peru revises pandemic death toll, now worst in the world per capita

FILE PHOTO: Family members carry the coffin of a man who died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a cemetery, in Lima, Peru January 27, 2021. REUTERS/Angela Ponce

LIMA (Reuters) -Peru on Monday almost tripled its official COVID-19 death toll to 180,764, following a government review, making it the country with the worst death rate per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Peru has been among the hardest hit Latin America countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, with its hospitals overcrowded with patients and demand for oxygen outstripping availability. Experts had long warned that the true death toll was being undercounted in official statistics.