WASHINGTON: The global death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 700,000 on Wednesday (Aug 5), according to a Reuters tally, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities.
Nearly 5,900 people are dying every 24 hours from COVID-19 on average, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the past two weeks.
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That equates to 247 people per hour, or one person every 15 seconds.
READ: Latin America now has world's highest coronavirus death toll
Latin America has been one of the worst hit regions. The coronavirus was initially slower to reach Latin America, which is home to about 640 million people, than much of the world. But officials have since struggled to control its spread because of the region's poverty and densely packed cities.
More than 100 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean live in slums, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Many have jobs in the informal sector with little in the way of a social safety net and have continued to work throughout the pandemic.
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READ: Proportion of youth with COVID-19 triples in 5 months: WHO
In Asia, India reported a record surge of 55,078 cases on Jul 31. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on its website more than 39,000 people have been killed on the subcontinent as the country's total number of cases inched toward two million.
The United States, home to around 330 million people, has also been battered by the virus despite being one of the richest nations in the world.
People line up at a food bank following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, Jul 30, 2020. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
The US government's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, on Monday said states with high coronavirus case counts should reconsider imposing lockdown restrictions, emphasising the need to get cases to a low baseline before the fall flu season.
READ: There may never be a 'silver bullet' for COVID-19, WHO warns
Even in parts of the world that had appeared to have curbed the spread of the virus, countries have recently seen single-day records in new cases, signaling the battle is far from over.
channel news asia
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