Death rate in Italy rose 104.5% during COVID-19 pandemic, analysis findsThe official COVID-19 death count from the pandemic in Italy is likely a significant undercount, according to a research letter published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.After comparing National Health Authority coronavirus death data from Feb 23 to Apr 4, 2020, with preliminary death data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics from Jan 12 to Apr 4 in 2015 to 2019, the researchers concluded that the annual all-cause death count in March and early April 2020 rose 104.5% to 41,329, from, on average, 20,214 in previous years.On average, from 2015 to 2019, 9,395 men and 10,819 women died each year in March and early April.