The combination of recently released data and surveys has raised doubts about the Albanian government’s transparency in responding to the country’s COVID-19 pandemic. Worryingly, since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of COVID-19 deaths and positive cases may be underreported.
World Health Organization General recommendations issued Both possible and confirmed deaths are classified as related to COVID-19 “unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that is not related to the disease.”
However, the Albanian government never The way they classify and report COVID-19 deaths is transparent.
This prompted President Ilir Mehta to request a full investigation and said that the situation is worrisome. “I call on the expert technical committee and the authorities to analyze data responsibly, review all agreements and measures to prevent and treat the pandemic, and cooperate transparently with citizens.”
In January 2021, Albanian official statistics publisher INSTAT stated that the number of deaths in 2020 has increased by 25.8% over the previous year. Data from previous years showed that the death toll was approximately 22,000, compared with 27,605 in 2020.
The main variable between 2019 and 2020 is the COVID-19 pandemic, but only 1,315 people died from COVID-19 in the year that the government publicly recorded, and about 4,700 “excess deaths” were not correctly counted.
In addition, this trend continues until 2021. In the first three months of this year, the reported death toll was 9,657—a 35% increase from the average death toll of a quarter in the past four years before the pandemic.
Similarly, the government reported 1,810 COVID-19 deaths, with 1,433 remaining deaths.
Even taking into account the gradual increase in the number of deaths due to the aging of the population (about 1%), the number of excess deaths is significantly higher.
The International Monetary Fund highlighted this issue when their report on European economic prospects showed that Albania has the highest excess mortality rate on the European continent. Their data shows an excess mortality rate of 20%.
Since January, the Albanian Ministry of Health has been silent on reports circulating in the media. As of press time, they have not answered questions raised by EURACTIV.com’s Albanian partner Exit.
Concerns about the number of positive tests
Another problem is the incidence of positive tests. The Ministry of Health reported that since the beginning of the pandemic, 177,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
A survey conducted by Euronews found that 37.8% of participants reported having COVID-19, a total of approximately 830,000 people.
At the beginning of the epidemic, Some citizens The report stated that they could not be tested by the state. This includes those with moderate symptoms and those who have been in contact with confirmed cases.
Earlier this month, the Albanian National Supreme Audit Office (KLSH) discovered that delays in testing and contact tracing and lack of resources have caused the virus to spread rapidly across the country.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
