The world surpassed 2 million coronavirus deaths on Friday, an impressive number that continues to increase as more contagious variants of the virus install themselves.
The United States had, by far, the highest number of deaths and cases in any country in the world, with more than 390,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom follow.
China reported its first death since May this week, when a team from the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived to investigate the origins of the pandemic there, after expressing concerns that Beijing was hampering the investigation.
China has faced scrutiny about its level of transparency about the outbreak and the accuracy of its death and case numbers.
New variants of the coronavirus are leading to an even faster spread of the virus, with strains discovered in the UK and South Africa causing particular concern.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on Friday that the UK variant may be the predominant strain in the United States in March.
“Increasing the transmissibility of the … variant ensures universal and increased compliance with mitigation strategies, including distance and masking,” warned the CDC.
Vaccines provide some hope of controlling the pandemic, but it will take several months before they become available on a widespread basis in the United States, and possibly significantly more in some other countries.
Health officials are therefore asking people to continue wearing masks and to distance themselves from other people.
“It is very important to remind people, both government and individuals, of the responsibilities and measures that we need to practice at least until the end of this year, because even if vaccines begin to protect the most vulnerable, we will not achieve any levels of population immunity , collective immunity in 2021, “said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan this week.