The global death toll from COVID-19 is 2M amid vaccine deployment

The global death toll from COVID-19 rose 2 million on Friday as vaccines developed at an incredible rate were rolled out around the world in an overall campaign to overcome the threat.

The milestone was reached just over a year after the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The number of dead, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is approximately equal to the population of Brussels, Mecca, Minsk or Vienna. This is roughly equivalent to the population of the metropolitan area of ​​Cleveland or the entire state of Nebraska.

Although the score is based on figures provided by government agencies around the world, the actual toll is likely to be significantly higher, in part due to inadequate testing and the numerous deaths inaccurately attributed to other causes, especially early in the outbreak.

It took eight months to kill 1 million. It took less than four months thereafter to reach the next million.

“Behind this horrible number are names and faces – the smile that will now be just a memory, the seat empty at the dinner table forever, the room that resonates with the silence of a loved one,” said Antonio Guterres, secretary general. of the United Nations, said. He said the toll was “exacerbated by the absence of a globally coordinated effort.”

“Science has succeeded, but solidarity has failed,” he said.

In affluent countries, including the United States, Britain, Israel, Canada, and Germany, millions of citizens have already been given some protection with at least one dose of vaccine developed at revolutionary speed and quickly allowed to be used.

But elsewhere, immunization drives have barely come off the ground. Many experts predict another year of loss and suffering in places such as Iran, India, Mexico and Brazil, which together account for a quarter of the deaths worldwide.