Total COVID-19 Deaths Pass 2 Million Worldwide

Total confirmed deaths from Covid-19 around the world passed two million on Friday, according to a count by AFP.

As of 1825 GMT on Friday, 2,000,066 people have died of the virus since it first emerged in China in late 2019, according to the count based on official figures provided by authorities.

The grim milestone comes as countries around the globe battle rising infections, despite the gradual rollout of vaccination campaigns.

In total, 93,321,070 cases of the virus have been confirmed worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the AFP count.

Europe is the continent where the health crisis has proved most deadly, with 650,560 fatalities to date.

Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded 542,410 deaths, while the United States and Canada have counted 407,090.

The individual countries that have suffered the highest death figures are the United States (389,581), Brazil (207,095), India (151,918), Mexico (137,916), Britain (87,295) and Italy (81,325).

These six countries alone make up more than half of the global death count.

The one-million death mark was breached on September 28, over nine months after the first death was reported in China. Since then the pandemic has accelerated and one million people have died in less than four months.

Last week was the deadliest since the pandemic broke out, with an average of over 13,600 deaths daily worldwide -- a 20 percent rise over the previous week.

Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic since October, accounting for a third of global deaths. The 52 countries and territories in the region have recorded an average of 5,570 deaths every day -- 17 percent higher than a week earlier.

Latin America and the Caribbean saw deaths rise by 25 percent last week, with a daily average of 2,751 fatalities, followed by the US and Canada (up 20 percent at 3,490) and Africa, also up 20 percent at 869.

Belgium has the most deaths in terms of the population with 1,751 fatalities for a million inhabitants followed by Slovenia (1,501) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1,344).