Coronavirus live news: global death toll passes four million

With the advent of the vaccine, deaths per day have plummeted to around 7,900, after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January, the Associated Press reports.

But in recent weeks, the mutant delta version of the virus first identified in India has set off alarms around the world, spreading rapidly even in vaccination success stories like the U.S., Britain and Israel.

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Britain, in fact, recorded a one-day total this week of more than 30,000 new infections for the first time since January, even as the government prepares to lift all remaining lockdown restrictions in England later this month.

The global coronavirus death toll passed a staggering four million late on Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant.

The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world’s wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

Even then, it is widely believed to be an undercount because of overlooked cases, differing definitions of what constitutes a coronavirus death, and deliberate under-reporting.

The toll is equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong or close to half of New York City.

The United States suffered the greatest loss of life, with 606,217 people dying.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest as the world marks the devastating milestone of four million deaths since the outbreak began in late 2019.

The global death toll from Covid eclipsed 4 million late on Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant.

The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world’s wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:

• The Delta variant now represents around 40% of new Covid-19 infections in France, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said. The share of this variant has doubled each week over the past three weeks, from 10% of infections three weeks ago to 20% last week and 40% this week, he said.
• Indonesia has set new daily records for both deaths and cases again, with 34,379 infections and 1,040 deaths. It is the third consecutive day of record new infections in Indonesia and the fourth straight day for record deaths.
• Turkmenistan’s healthcare ministry has said it is making Covid vaccination mandatory for all residents aged 18 and over. Exceptions would only be made for those with medical issues preventing inoculation.
• Vietnam will impose restrictions on its largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, for 15 days from Friday to tackle rising cases, according to state media reports.
• Cases are rising in the 22 countries of the eastern Mediterranean region due to limited vaccination, the spread of the Delta variant and increased travel, the World Health Organization has warned. Increasing infection levels follow two months of maintained decline.
• The UK has reported 32,548 new Covid cases, with the weekly tally double that of the previous seven days amid surging cases in the runup to the lifting of all restrictions on 19 July.
• A hospital in Uganda has allegedly refused to hand over the dead body of a patient to their relative without payment of medical bills, the Associated Press reports, as the country’s residents struggle with Covid healthcare costs.
• Bangladesh has reported its highest daily number of Covid deaths, with 201 fatalities registered as the south Asian country battles a surge in cases.
• Japan’s government is expected to issue a state of emergency this month in Tokyo that will likely remain in place throughout the Tokyo Olympics, according to financial newspaper Nikkei.
• Authorities in Myanmar have ordered people in several regions of the country’s largest city, Yangon, to stay at home as coronavirus cases surged to almost 4,000 infections on Wednesday. In early May, there were fewer than 50 daily.