Measuring the Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mortality: Review and Prospect — China, 2021

Current progress in measuring the effect of the pandemic on mortality is limited. Few studies have comprehensively and systematically elucidated the mechanism through which the pandemic affects mortality and what indicators are valid to capture such an effect. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis regarding the multifaceted effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on mortality and its measurements [i.e., confirmed deaths per million people (CDPMP), case fatality rate (CFR), infection fatality risk (IFR), excess mortality P-score (EMPS), and life expectancy (LE)]. It was revealed that both data collection efforts and measurements on mortality due to COVID-19 were far from perfect and discussed the importance of accurate, prompt, and accessible data by any government over the course of fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. It is believed that the biggest challenge in measuring the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality lies not in the construction of indicators at the academic level, but in the collection of data at the practical level. Thus, it is suggested to take measures to better monitor the development of the pandemic and mitigate the increasing burdens borne by the public health systems by improving the tracking system of mortality, standardizing the diagnosis of COVID-19’s deaths, and disclosing mortality data.