World passes threshold of 4.5 million Covid-19 deaths

The world has passed the grim threshold of 4.5 million Covid-19 deaths, according to an AFP tally on Monday, as the virulent Delta variant wreaks havoc globally. Since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, the virus has killed a total of 4,500,620 people, the tally of official sources revealed. Some 10,000 deaths are reported every day in the world, a much lower figure than the highs of January when an average of 14,800 people were being killed daily. But the figure is much higher than at the start of July when some 7,800 daily deaths were registered. With an average of 1,290 deaths per day over the past week, the United States has once again become the country with the most new fatalities in the world. The pandemic has already claimed more deaths in 2021 than in 2020, with more than 2.6 million fatalities officially reported since January against just under 1.9 million over the whole of last year.

PARIS: The world has passed the grim threshold of 4.5 million Covid-19 deaths, according to an AFP tally on Monday, as the virulent Delta variant of the coronavirus wreaks havoc.

Since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, the disease has killed over 4,500,600 people, the tally of official sources revealed. Some 10,000 new deaths are reported every day in the world.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday that another 236,000 people could die from Covid-19 in Europe by December 1.

New Zealand reported its first recorded death linked to US drugmaker Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, the health ministry said on Monday, after a woman suffered a side effect leading to inflammation of her heart muscle.

Some 2mn French workers in restaurants and other service jobs must now show a Covid-19 health pass to go to work, as part of the government’s efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

The European Union recommended on Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the US because of rising infections there.

South African scientists have detected a new coronavirus variant with multiple mutations but are yet to establish whether it is more contagious or able to overcome the immunity provided by vaccines or prior infection.