Italy Over-Reported COVID-19 Related Fatalities

A new study led by researchers at the University College of London and the Imperial College London published on October 9, 2020, found about 24,000 more people died in Lombardy, Italy than expected between January and April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This study, published in PLOS ONE found that Lombardy had the most excess fatalities of any region in Italy.

However, only 14,000 of these fatalities were confirmed as being related to COVID-19, according to these researchers. And, these researchers estimated that there were still 10,197 more fatalities than predicted based on past trends or 43% of all excess fatalities.