The health ministry said the number of people who have tested positive with Covid-19 had reached 100,703, including 775 deaths. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)
PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 1.3 million people have been killed by the novel coronavirus worldwide, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
In total, there have been at least 1,303,783 deaths for 53,380,442 declared cases of Covid-19, although experts say the official data is likely to capture only a fraction of the number of total infections and fatalities.
New cases and deaths are accelerating again as a second wave of infections strikes Europe and the United States.
Nearly one in five deaths occurred in the US (244,345), while Brazil was the next most affected country measured by deaths (164,737), then India (129,188), Mexico (97,624) and Britain (51,304).
The world celebrated news this week about major advances in the hunt for vaccines against the coronavirus, but a top WHO expert warned in an interview with AFP that disinformation and public distrust will render them useless against the pandemic.
© Agence France-Presse