World COVID-19 death toll this year already tops that of 2020

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | More people have died from COVID-19 this year than in 2020, despite progress of vaccination in the rich world, reported The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

“It took less than six months for the globe to record more than 1.88 million COVID-19 deaths this year,” said the report while quoting Johns Hopkins University data. The university’s count for 2021 edged just ahead of the 2020 death toll on Thursday.

These numbers reveal the pandemic has hit different parts of the world unevenly, with poorer nations being affected later, and suffering, before they have access to vaccines that have benefited developed nations, it said.

“While Western nations such as the U.S., Canada and the U.K. celebrate low caseloads and declining deaths thanks to mass vaccinations, the intensified pandemic in parts of Asia and Latin America propelled global deaths higher,” it added.

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Xinhua