[ad_1]
Image copyright
EPA
Funerals for victims, like here in Indonesia, must be carried out with strict security measures.
The number of people around the world who have died from Covid-19 has exceeded a million, researchers say, and many regions still report a growing number of new infections.
The Johns Hopkins University tally shows that deaths in the US, Brazil and India account for almost half of that total.
Experts caution that the true figure is likely much higher.
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, described him as a “paralyzing” figure and “an agonizing milestone.”
“However, we must never lose sight of each and every individual life,” he said in a video message.
“They were fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, friends and colleagues. The pain has been multiplied by the brutality of this disease.”
The development comes nearly 10 months after news of the coronavirus began to emerge in Wuhan, China.
Since then, the pandemic has spread to 188 countries with more than 32 million confirmed cases. The lockdowns and other measures to try to stop the spread of the virus have driven many economies into recession.
Meanwhile, efforts continue to develop an effective vaccine, although the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the death toll could reach two million before one is available.
The United States has the highest death toll in the world with around 205,000 deaths, followed by Brazil with 141,700 and India with 95,500 deaths.
Where is Covid-19 spreading the fastest?
The United States has registered more than seven million cases, more than a fifth of the world total. After a second wave of cases in July, the numbers declined in August, but now appear to be rising again.
The coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in India, with the country registering about 90,000 cases a day in early September.
- Where are the global coronavirus hot spots?
Confirmed infections in India have reached six million, the second highest after the United States. However, given the size of its population, India has experienced a relatively low death rate.
Media playback is not supported by your device
Brazil has the highest number of deaths in Latin America and has registered more than 4.7 million cases, the third highest in the world.
In other parts of the region, newly confirmed infections are also increasing rapidly in Argentina, which now has more than 700,000 cases.
Due to differences in the way countries record cases and deaths, and sporadic testing rates in some regions, the actual number of coronavirus cases and deaths is believed to be higher than reported, experts say.
How is the search for a vaccine progressing?
Globally, there are about 240 potential vaccines in early development, with 40 in clinical trials and nine in the final stage of testing in thousands of people. Vaccine development typically takes years, but due to the global emergency, scientists are working at breakneck speed.
One being developed by the University of Oxford, which is already in an advanced stage of testing, has shown that it can trigger an immune response and a deal has been signed with AstraZeneca to supply 100 million doses in the UK alone.
- When will we have a vaccine?
- Who would get the vaccine and how?
In China, a potential vaccine has been shown to produce protective antibodies and is being made available to the Chinese military. However, concerns have been raised about the speed at which the vaccine is produced.
Media playback is not supported by your device
Meanwhile, in Russia, scientists say that the first tests of a vaccine called Sputnik-V show signs of an immune response.
In a report earlier this month, they said that all the participants in the trials developed antibodies to fight the virus and suffered no serious side effects.
Russia authorized the vaccine for local use in August, the first country to do so. Again, there were concerns about the speed of the process, and some experts said that the first trials had been too small to demonstrate its efficacy and safety.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has said that Americans should be able to access a vaccine beginning in October, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a vaccine is unlikely to be widely available before mid-October. from 2021.
The WHO has said it does not expect to see widespread vaccinations against Covid-19 until mid-2021.
Media playback is not supported by your device
