Covid-19 Deaths This Year Have Already Eclipsed 2020’s Toll
More people have died from Covid-19 already this year than in all of 2020, according to official counts, highlighting how the global pandemic is far from over even as vaccines beat back the virus in wealthy nations.
It took less than six months for the globe to record more than 1.88 million Covid-19 deaths this year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The university’s count for 2021 edged just ahead of the 2020 death toll on Thursday.
These numbers underscore a worsening divide between developed and developing nations as President Biden and the leaders of the other Group of Seven advanced economies prepare to gather in England to discuss next steps in the pandemic response.
While Western nations like the U.S., Canada and the U.K. celebrate low caseloads and declining deaths thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, the intensified pandemic in parts of Asia and Latin America propelled global deaths higher.
“We are living through our worst moment since the start of the pandemic,” Argentine President Alberto Fernández said late last month.
