OREANDA-NEWS. The coronavirus pandemic has provoked an increase in deaths from tuberculosis in the world. This was reported in a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), published on Thursday, October 14.

The death rate from tuberculosis in the world has increased for the first time in the last 10 years. According to WHO officials, the coronavirus pandemic has "reversed" many of the efforts made in this direction. In 2020, 1.5 million people died from lung disease. In 2021 and 2022, the WHO fears, the number of cases of tuberculosis and deaths from it may become even higher.

WHO estimates that about 4.1 million people are currently suffering from tuberculosis without even knowing it. For comparison, in 2019 there were about 2.9 million of them.

As it was previously written, another surge in the coronavirus pandemic continues to gain momentum in Russia. The number of infections is growing, the infection kills more than 870 people a day.

WHO estimates that about 4.1 million people are currently suffering from tuberculosis but have not been diagnosed with the disease or have not been officially reported to national authorities. That figure is up from 2.9 million in 2019, the report said.

The organization also reported a reduction in global spending on TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention services from $ 5.8 billion to $ 5.3 billion, less than half of the global target for a full funding of the $ 13 billion tuberculosis response annually by 2022 year.