Covid global death toll tops 2 million, Johns Hopkins data shows

Two million people have now died worldwide with coronavirus and more 93 million people have been infected with Covid-19.

The death tally by the Johns Hopkins University was reached on Friday, showing a new figure of 2,000,905.

The US has the highest overall death toll at more than 389,000, followed by Brazil with 207,000 deaths and India with 152,000 casualties.

The grim milestone was reached just over a year after the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan and as vaccines developed at breakneck speed are being rolled out around the world in an all-out campaign to vanquish the threat.

The number of dead is about equal to the population of Brussels, Mecca, Minsk or Vienna.

While the count is based on figures supplied by government agencies around the world, the real toll is believed to be significantly higher, in part because of inadequate testing and the many fatalities that were inaccurately attributed to other causes, especially early in the outbreak.

It took eight months to hit 1 million dead and less than four months after that to reach the next million.

“Behind this terrible number are names and faces – the smile that will now only be a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” said UN secretary general antonio guterres.

He said the toll “has been made worse by the absence of a global coordinated effort”.

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

More than 35 million doses of various Covid-19 vaccines have been administered around the world, according to the University of Oxford.

In wealthy countries including the United States, Britain, Israel, Canada and Germany, millions of citizens have already been given some measure of protection with at least one dose of vaccine.

But elsewhere, immunisation drives are barely off the ground. Many experts are predicting another year of loss and hardship in places like Iran, India, Mexico and Brazil, which together account for about a quarter of the world’s deaths.