A new study by the World Obesity Foundation has revealed a clear link between obesity and high COVID-19 death rates.

The study says death rates are consistently 10 times higher in countries where at least half of the population is overweight. Since the start of the pandemic, 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths worldwide have occurred in countries with high levels of obesity.

Olivia Cavalcanti, director of Science and Programs at the World Obesity Foundation, told CGTN Europe: "In a way, it's not completely surprising to us, because people with obesity are more vulnerable to respiratory illnesses, we have seen this with H1N1, MERS, and people with obesity are more vulnerable to influenza."

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The study examined COVID-19 death figures from Johns Hopkins University as well as World Health Organization data. The figures revealed that nations such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, which have low levels of adult obesity, also had low levels of of COVID-19 deaths.   

In contrast, the U.S. and the UK, two countries with high levels of obesity, also had the world's highest and fifth highest COVID-19 death rates respectively.

The World Obesity Foundation is also calling for governments around the world to recognize obesity as a disease. In Europe, only the Netherlands and Portugal officially classify the condition as a disease.

"This is a disease, a multifactorial and complex and chronic disease, meaning whoever suffers from it will suffer from it their whole lives," said Cavalcanti.

"Only by truly understanding this we can have health care that doesn't have stigma or preconceived notions about it, so doctors can help their patients and we can have political action and regulation around food."

The World Obesity Federation has urged governments to recognize obesity as a key health risk in the pandemic and to be taken into account in vaccination plans.