On Jan. 11, 2020, China reported the first death linked to a new, still nameless virus. Just over a year later, that virus has claimed the lives of 2 million people around the world.
According to a database kept by Johns Hopkins University, the world surpassed 2 million deaths linked to COVID-19 on Friday. So far, officials across the globe have confirmed more than 93 million cases of the virus — though the true total is likely much higher.
The United States continues to lead the world in the deaths linked to the virus, with more than 388,000. According to the COVID Tracking Project, the U.S. is currently averaging more than 3,000 deaths linked to the virus each day. Should that average hold, the U.S. will surpass 400,000 COVID-19 deaths by early next week.
U.S. deaths linked to COVID-19 represent 19% of all deaths that have been recorded worldwide.
The outbreak in the U.S. continues to worsen. According to the COVID Tracking Project, the countries continue to see nearly a quarter-million new cases every day while hospitals remain at near-record capacity.
Brazil (207,000), India (152,000) and Mexico (138,000) are the only other countries that have recorded more than 100,000 deaths linked to COVID-19. The United Kingdom (86,000) and Italy (81,000) round out the top five countries with the most COVID-19 deaths.
However, the promise of COVID-19 vaccines offers a light at the end of the pandemic's dark tunnel. Between vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, more than 35 million doses of vaccine have been sent into the arms of humans around the world, according to Bloomberg. With more vaccines up for approval in the weeks and months ahead, officials hope life will return to some sense of normalcy within the year.
