Just a little over a year after the coronavirus was first identified, the world has recorded more than 3 million deaths Saturday from the disease.
More than 140 million people around the world have contracted COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has the most COVID-19 deaths, with more than 566,,000. Brazil has reported almost 370,000 deaths, Mexico has reported more than 211,000, India has reported about 175,000 deaths and the United Kingdom has had more than 127,000 deaths from COVID-19.
Cases in America have plateaued in recent weeks; while vaccination rates have rapidly increased, so has the spread of variants, in addition to the reopening of businesses and gathering events.
The combination of factors is keeping COVID-19 case rates level, and in some parts of the country, rising sharply. The number of COVID-19 deaths in this country is also tragically holding steady at around 1,000 a day for the last several weeks.
The Biden administration on Friday announced a $1.7 billion infusion to help with tracking and identifying coronavirus variants.
The funding will help the CDC and local health departments with their coronavirus gene-mapping, and will also set up partnerships with universities around the country to research and track the variants.
The funding was approved by Congress as part of the coronavirus relief bill.
