COVID-19 records more than five million deaths worldwide
November 1, 2021, 2:15 pm

COVID-19 records more than five million deaths worldwide

India-COVID deaths/Shutterstock

The BBC reported according to Johns Hopkins University, more than five million people are known to have died of Covid-19 worldwide, 19 months since the pandemic began.

It aid that vaccines have slowed the death rate, but some health experts say the true toll could be far higher.

It mentioned that the milestone comes amid warnings from health officials that cases and deaths in some places are rising for the first time in months.

According to the BBC, nearly 250 million cases of the virus have been recorded worldwide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the pandemic's real global death toll could be two to three times higher than official records.

The BBC said that in the US, more than 745,800 people have died, making it the country with the highest number of recorded deaths.

It is followed by Brazil, with 607,824 recorded deaths, and India, with 458,437. But health experts believe these numbers are under reported, partly because of deaths at home and those in rural communities.

It has taken the world longer to reach the latest one million deaths than the previous two.

It took over 110 days to go from four million deaths to five million. That is compared to just under 90 days to rise from three million to four million.

While vaccines have helped reduce the fatality rate, the WHO warned last week that the pandemic was "far from over".

Its director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to a rise in cases in Europe, where countries with low vaccination rates are seeing soaring infections and deaths.

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Last week, Russia recorded its highest number of daily cases and deaths since the start of the pandemic. Russia accounts for 10% of the last million deaths recorded globally.

Romania has one of the world's highest Covid mortality rates, and hospitals are struggling to cope. It has the second-lowest vaccine rate in the European Union.

More than seven billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, but there is a gap between rich and poor nations.

Only 3.6% of people in low income countries have been vaccinated, according to Oxford University's Our World in Data.

Source: BBC

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.