GLOBAL TRAGEDY

Worldwide COVID-19 Death Toll Hits ‘Staggering’ 5 Million

The United States, which leads the world with a death toll of approximately 750,000, accounts for 15 percent of the world’s fatalities.

The global coronavirus death toll passed 5 million on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The United States alone accounts for around 15 percent of worldwide fatalities. The country’s death toll, around 750,000, is the highest in the world, followed by India and Brazil.

The virus officially claimed 4 million known deaths on July 8 earlier this year; Sunday’s grim milestone comes three months and three weeks later. This is the first time that the interval between millions has increased, reflecting a recent downtick in the number of daily reported deaths around the world. Official numbers are believed to be undercounted—the true pandemic death toll could be much higher. “It’s quite possible that the number of deaths is double what we see,” a professor epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told National Geographic on Friday. “But five million is such a staggering number on its own. No country has been able to escape it.”