By Covid death toll reaches a million
More than a million people around the world have now died in the coronavirus pandemic.
The data from Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking the outbreak, also shows more than 33 million Covid-19 cases have been reported.
The report of the millionth death, which came early this morning (Tuesday) has arrived just short of 10 months after the first confirmed death, in China in January.
It comes after a significant rise in infections has triggered local lockdowns in countries such as France, Spain and the UK.
However the official figure probably underestimates the true total, said a senior World Health Organization official.
“If anything, the numbers currently reported probably represent an underestimate of those individuals who have either contracted Covid-19 or died as a cause of it,” Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, told a briefing in Geneva.
“When you count anything, you can’t count it perfectly but I can assure you that the current numbers are likely an underestimate of the true toll of Covid.”
There is thought to be significant underreporting of deaths in many countries, either for political reasons or due to lack of capacity.
More than one-fifth of the tallied deaths have occurred in the US, the most of any country in the world, followed by more than 142,000 in Brazil and more than 95,000 in India, which is currently recording the most new cases per day.
The UK government reported 4,044 new cases yesterday (Monday), the third day in a row the daily total has fallen.
In the UK, around 17 million people – more than a quarter of the population – are living under tougher coronavirus restrictions after new measures on socialising came into force in large parts of the country.
And the NHS is facing a “triple whammy” of rising Covid-19 cases, a major backlog in treatment and reduced capacity due to infection-control measures, according to health bosses.
The NHS Confederation report on the English NHS said more investment was desperately needed, reports the BBC.
The NHS bosses also called on ministers to be “honest and realistic” about waiting lists for treatment.
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