A January 2022 article in the scientific journal Nature penned by David Adam describes a possibility that while at the time the official dearth toll of the COVID-19 pandemic stood at 5 million the real toll, or at least the excess global death toll for the duration of the pandemic may be 2 or even 4 times the official figure. There may be several takeaways.
For one thing, such a massive spread is indicative of low quality of the data involved. Another aspect of his metric is that quite possibly excess mortality is largely, or even predominantly, the result of economic and psychological hardship caused by the response to the pandemic, not by the virus itself.
Hopefully, relevant research will continue - and we will get data that is factual, as opposed to politically influenced. It is critically important to get true understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic.
References
The pandemic’s true death toll: millions more than official counts
David Adam, Nature, 18 January 2022