Washington: The global death toll caused by COVID-19 crossed the 5-million mark on Monday.
The global pandemic, which hit our planet less than two years ago, has devastated poor countries and wealthy nations alike.
In fact, the United States, European Union, Britain and Brazil — all upper-middle or high-income countries — account for nearly half of all reported deaths as tallied by Johns Hopkins University.
Topping the charts is the US which has seen over 740,000 people losing their lives, while India is at No. 3 with nearly 4.6 million casualties.
The figure is almost certainly an undercount because of limited testing and people dying at home without medical attention, especially in poor parts of the world.
COVID is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke.
Deaths have come down in several countries which have been able to vaccinate a high percentage of its population. But in Africa, just 5% of the population of 1.3 billion people are fully inoculated.
The current hotspots of the pandemic – which have shifted over the 22 months since the outbreak of the dreaded coronavirus – are Russia, Ukraine and parts of Eastern Europe.
MOST COVID-RELATED DEATHS
US – 7.4 million
Brazil – 6.07 million
India – 4.58 million
Mexico – 2.88 million
Russia – 2.38 million
Peru – 2 million
Indonesia – 1.43 million
UK – 1.4 million
Italy – 1.32 million
Colombia – 1.27 million.
