COVID-19 fatalities crossed the one-million milestone on 28 September as per the COVID-19 case tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University of the US — . “an agonizing milestone”, as described by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
What makes the figure “mindnumbing” is the fact that it was reached in just about 10 months from the time the new coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan in China. It shows how powerful the devastation of the pandemic is, experts say.
The infection may already have overtaken tuberculosis and hepatitis as the world’s deadliest infectious disease and is still growing fast.
With no parallel in more than a century, COVID-19 continues its rampage, infecting millions of people and afflicting entire economies.
Many people believe that the actual figures on COVID-19 deaths could be far, far higher than reported, as different countries record infections and deaths in their own way.
WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan says the reported numbers probably underestimate individuals who either contracted or died due to COVID-19.
According to some unofficial estimates, about 6.4 percent of the people infected with the virus have now died worldwide.
Based on these trends, some models even suggest that the number of fatalities could exceed 3 million by January if the virus is allowed to spread unhindered.
One of the noteworthy characteristics of COVID-19 mortalities is that most of these deaths occurred in developed countries and not in developing ones.
Many of these deaths could have been avoided had people shown compliance with national mandates such as wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing, epidemiologists say.
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